KFConsole was, at its core, a social media stunt which was catapulted into virality by influencers.

The concept, creative delivery and the timing of the launch were designed with social sharing in mind, and the KFConsole was inherently relevant to gaming influencers who set the tone for gaming communities.

In Spring 2020, KFC was still heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic - in the UK, its restaurants were temporarily closed - then on reopening, KFC fans faced a limited menu.

KFC set a brief to entertain and engage a gaming audience. Given the Covid-19 challenges, any activity needed to be inherently digital, sharable and authentic.

The objectives were threefold: earn mass reach, foster positive engagement and drive closer KFC affinity to gaming amongst the usually hard-to-reach audience.

The creative concept was the KFConsole - a new, next-gen gaming console from the fried chicken brand, which didn’t just allow for gameplay, but also for chicken to be cooked within it.

The KFConsole had to look and feel the part; gamers are highly critical of brands looking to capitalize on their community, our authenticity would mean everything.

With 4k, 120fps gameplay and cross platform compatibility, the console also integrated the KFC brand and product, taking the shape of a KFC bucket and even including a Chicken Chamber, to heat your favourite KFC menu item.

Mirroring the tactics we knew would be deployed by Xbox and Playstation (to support their new next-gen consoles), the way the console was launched was as important to the campaign as the hardware itself.

Market research illustrated that KFC’s UK core audience had aged out and they’d lost touch with younger consumers. Data also showed 13m takeaway-lovers play video games - but with 50% of them shunning KFC for competitors, there was a 6.5m-strong opportunity to win back market share.

Kairos knew that the upcoming next gen console reveals & launches from Sony and Microsoft provided a massive talking point and platform to engage gamers, and also that these conversations would be primarily taking place Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Kairos’ strategy for KFC was to not just engage in the console wars, but to win them via its new console revealed and launched at the same time as Xbox and Playstation.

To capture the attention of gamers en masse, the KFConsole was tactically revealed just hours after the Playstation 5 launch event in June. The reveal took the form of a slick, CGI film, which was launched organically on KFC Gaming’s Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels.

Between the reveal in June and launch in December, KFC Gaming capitalised on the debate amongst gamers around whether the KFConsole validity with a series of cryptic social posts. True to next-gen console form, Kairos even factored in ‘delays’ to the launch schedule to tantalise gamers even more.

For the launch in December, once again KFC tailgated behind Microsoft and Sony with its announcement film, again utilising its KFC Gaming channels to share the news.

Whilst the initial brief was to focus on a UK audience, the campaign quickly expanded beyond this to engage gamers globally.

On KFC’s owned social channels, the KFConsole delivered:

35.1 million+ organic impressions

4 million+ engagements

84,000 new followers

Overall 26.9% engagement rate

Across other social & digital platforms it achieved:

238m potential impressions across Twitter

18k Reddit mentions

8.5 million Google searches for ‘KFConsole or KFC Console’ globally

In terms of earned media it achieved:

Over 2,500 media articles globally including coverage in publications such as BBC News, FOX News, USA Today, Daily Mail, IGN, Daily Express, TechRadar, Metro and The Independent. Coverage equated to a media value of £14.8m with a total reach of 3.1 bn.

Overall, The KFConsole nailed its objective of delivering mass awareness and positive sentiment amongst a usually fickle gaming audience, plus it established KFC not just as a brand for gamers, but as a gaming brand in its own right.