KFC had never run a global campaign before.

But when Covid hit, and "It’s Finger Lickin’ Good" immediately went from being one of the world’s most famous slogans to being the world’s least appropriate, there was both a necessity and an opportunity.

We decided that the most effective approach would be to face the problem head on. So, rather than shy away from our having the world’s least appropriate slogan, we leaned into it.

And perhaps most importantly, we did so in a ‘KFC’ way.

During the Covid crisis, every brand on the planet would be‘playing the violin’. But we’re not like every other brand on the planet, we’re KFC - we would be ‘playing the banjo’.

We censored our most iconic asset, turning "It's Finger Lickin Good" into simply, "It's Good." Alongside it ran a public information campaign to tell people, 'that thing we've been saying over and over for the last three quarters of a century? Ignore it for now.'

By changing our slogan, we were fessing up in a way that would ensure newsworthy-ness.

But the campaign was also designed specifically with KFC’s global challenges in mind. Not all the markets had the same budgets or capabilities, but they were all crying out for help and support.

So we designed this campaign to be scalable, with some markets investing larger amounts in ATL and paid social, and others doing little more than an organic tweet and a press release. And yet, everyone was able to receive the benefits of this burst of PR driven fame. Run in 12 countries but with press coverage in 97, this was a generous global campaign that rewarded all markets, both big and small.

The key message was that our slogan, “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good”, was being paused for the time being.

We created TV and social films, a long copy press ad, and a series of high-impact OOH executions. We wanted to not only let people know we were aware of how awkward the situation was, but also remind them of how delicious (and available) the chicken remained.

Even if you couldn’t lick your fingers afterwards.

• Media Outputs - coverage depth (quality / quantity), tone and message delivery, purchase intent (survey)

• Target Audience Outcomes - measurable changes in awareness, comprehension, perceptions / attitudes / opinions,

and target behaviours / actions / responses achieved

• Business Outcomes – campaign’s measurable effect on sales / revenues / profits, market share, stock valuation, brand

equity, reputation scores and other traditional marketing and business metrics

The campaign received over 2 billion impressions. Brand word of mouth went through the roof, up 3,842%.

And without ever saying our endline ourselves, we got everybody else to do it for us. From customers to television presenters to celebrities, people kept repeating our brand name and that forbidden phrase “It’s fingerlickin’ good”. Each mention reinforcing and building on the equity of our 64 year old slogan, for free.

The week after the campaign, there was a 2% uplift in global sales.