KFC has always played a role in helping youth & local communities in NZ. Their long-term partnership with Surf Life Saving NZ is a great example of this, but they wanted to do something bigger. They wanted to launch a foundation to champion more causes that could give every young New Zealander the skills & support to enhance their physical & mental wellbeing. So they tasked us with naming, branding and launching their new Foundation - “KFC for Good”. This would enable them to formalise their way of giving back to the community and help more people. Our activity announced the launch of this initiative, by sharing our secret recipe for mental wellbeing with their audience and staff. This was all timed with an activation to raise money for one of their chosen partners, Clearhead – a mental health service.

KFC are all about sharing happiness over a bucket of the Colonel’s finest. So it made a lot of sense to use the bucket as a symbol of optimism to inform our logo design and art direction. Inspired by the idea of an empty bucket being symbolic of feeling sad or alone, we loved the idea of providing bucket fillers for all - combining KFC's recognisable brand look with positive messaging to get people thinking more about their neighbour. Because we know that when someone says or does something nice for other New Zealanders, it has an instant effect that could last a lifetime.

At the core of the KFC experience – everything is about being handmade. From crumbed, finger lickin’ chicken, the 11 herbs & spices, all the way to the typeface. Combined, the design approach tied the messaging and look more authentically to the brand with a clear, positive focus around mental wellness. Displayed in-store, digitally, and on restaurant staff t-shirts – we wanted the message to be the medium with the typography taking the shape of our famous buckets.

The design detail focussed on the natural textures and rustic craft inherent to a hand rendered piece. Letterpress typography, coupled with hand script, painterly rendered food and a restrained brand palette – all contributed to an organic, grassroots quality, unmistakably handmade by KFC, all for a good cause.

- 49,022 site visits in the first 7 days

- The message captured the imagination of 1.8 million NZ’ers

- Mugs, Socks, Beanie’s sold out in the first 15 mins of the site being pushed live!

- Jersey’s sold out within 3 hours

- All money brought in from merch sales donated to Clearhead NZ

- Increase of nearly 400% on the YouGov brand buzz score (from 4.7 YouGov brand buzz score on 29 July 2022 to a 18.2 by mid August)

- Story picked up by nationwide radio chat (ZM, The Edge, Mair & The Rock) and lifestyle press

- High engagement and pick-up through social channels (1,500 likes and 319 shares in first 24 hours)