KFC has long been dabbling in gaming. From launching dedicated KFC gaming accounts, to creating a popular Japanese-inspired dating game featuring Colonel Sanders, and even designing a chicken-heating console!

While the above advancements in gaming proved successful, these were just entry points that helped establish KFC as a brand that appeals to gamers.

KFC was now synonymous with gaming. Great... but what about selling chicken to gamers?

KFC was yet to generate conversion with gamers. 350 million MENA gamers to be precise. A gold mine of sales for KFC if it were to resonate with them.

Knowing that they were glued to their favorite games 24/7, KFC had to find an innovative idea that would help them generate more sales from gamers without interrupting their precious gaming time.

THE CHALLENGE: How do you sell chicken to a target audience that doesn’t even have time to check out an online menu?

So how do we hijack gaming culture to create a brand-new way of ordering? By setting up an in-game pop-up shop? By invading Twitch streams with witty comments directing gamers to our website? Or maybe it was about inserting in-game redeemable coupons for finger-lickin’ good chicken?

No, we remembered we had to stay out of the games all together. We had to be genuine and not alienate some gamers.

This made KFC’s challenge tougher. You could say as tough as beating a game on “Hard” mode. Very few were able to do so without …cheat codes.

And that when it all clicked. It was not about being present in-game, it was all about creating a real-life cheat code that would give gamers even more gaming time.

CREATIVE IDEA: A real-life cheat code to order finger-lickin’ good fried chicken.

It’s as easy as Shift + K + F + C.

With the brand aiming to leverage the big number of MENA gamers and appeal to all of them, getting into one particular game could alienate those that don’t play it.

We had to look for another entry point.

Gamers have very diverse preferences. But they share one thing in common: getting so engrossed they forget to eat.

So how can we stay away from their games and find a way to get them to eat without compromising their gaming time?

To feed them, we had to be efficient, but in-line with their gaming culture.

So what’s something (almost) every gamer loves?

We dug deeper, and we found it: Hunting for easter eggs and hidden features is a fun part of gaming culture.

All the above shaped the opportunity we were waiting for: a chance to hijack gaming culture to create a unique way to order KFC.

The reception was huge.

Shift K+F+C resonated heavily with gamers as we successfully drove website traffic and conversions.

The campaign launched in 7 countries in the Middle East $0 production cost.

It gathered 20 million social impressions, 1.7 million reachand, resulted in 350,000 engagements.

The brand received a 45% increase in Gamer Box purchases (93% of those from the gaming community), +44% in Sales Revenue, +21% Transactions Uplift (compared to the previous two weeks) and a +5.4% uplift on kfc.me during the same period.

Visits to the KFC.me website were up by 58% (compared to the last week).

Above and beyond the results, this project gave us a deep understanding of the gaming community and set us up on track for many more meaningful ways to engage with their culture and deliver on their needs.