The KFC Brainwave Bucket matched a key local insight with a tech-led creative idea that was just whacky enough to cut through the online and real-world noise, generating masses of earned media and online engagement reaching far beyond the activity itself. The activity not only garnered a massive 1.2+ billion impressions – extraordinary for a local campaign – but led to a 17.1% increase in KFC sales across HK.

KFC WAS LOSING TRACTION AND LTO CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS WAS WEAKENING

KFC is the original leader of fried chicken in Hong Kong but the brand was losing traction when chicken was also sold by the vast array of fast food options. Limited Time Offer (LTO) promotions ran monthly and weren’t as able to drive orders and sales anymore.

COMPETITION WAS OUTSPENDING KFC SIGNIFICANTLY IN PAID MEDIA

McDonald’s, the main competitor, was outspending KFC by multiples in advertising. With a much smaller budget, KFC had to be creative and find ways to gain publicity through earned media and organic sharing.

OUR CHALLENGE: SHOW THAT EARNED CREATIVE GROWS SALES MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN LTO

With a tiny budget of USD 32,000, we couldn’t afford any advertising and would have to earn attention from, to attract people to visit and eat at KFC.

Hong Kong is one of the most stressed cities in the world. And one of the main triggers of stress amongst our core demographic of 15-40 year-olds is overthinking.

But we came across scientific studies showing that comfort food reduces stress. As the leader of juicy fried chicken, the ultimate comfort food, we wanted to put this theory to test by challenging Hong Kongers to relax in our world of Finger Lickin’ Good chicken.

We flipped the famous KFC Bucket upside down and added a built-in real-time brainwave detection device and turned it into a helmet which determined the stress level of the person wearing it – and in doing so created a fun piece of technology for people and news outlets to identify with and talk about.

To enable people to experience our invention, we created the Brainwave Bucket booth and activation in the KFC’s flagship store.

The KFC brand focused on developing a relationship with Gen Z (15-27 y.o.) while continuing to appeal to its core customers who were older, DINKS and families (27-40 y.o.). We wanted our idea to have mass appeal, so that customers of all ages and demographics would find the campaign relevant and appealing. The idea also had to resonate with media journalists as we would rely on earned coverage to publicise our campaign.

We believed the topic of stress and overthinking would resonate across demographics. As the most stressed city in East Asia, people overthink anything and everything, from money, big life decisions and what their friends think of them, to what to have for lunch.

With limited budget to work with, we leveraged earned media and the brand’s social channels. With the line, “Don‘t Overthink, Just Indulge”, we challenged media and the general public to come experience our Brainwave Bucket.

Leading up to the event, we launched a series of social assets on our owned channels teasing our invention, hinting at the reason for the invention and the upcoming event.

In Phase One, we welcomed the media to join the experience at the KFC flagship store.

Media amplified to customers around Hong Kong so they would be intrigued to come along and try for themselves. We targeted lifestyle, tech and news media to cover the campaign in their publications and on their social channels. This was a great success, amplifying the campaign, the brand and the message to people from all walks of life, triggering their craving for KFC.

Then in Phase Two, we announced the experience to the general public via KFC’s own social channels and in-store posters, causing people to queue up from store open to close to try it out, growing orders and sales.

BECOMING THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Brand Objective: Drive positive sentiment about KFC

Brand Results: With a tiny budget of USD 32,000, we couldn’t afford any advertising and would have to earn attention. Our campaign was covered by major news, business, lifestyle, and technology media, helping us to reach consumers for free.

213 news outlets shared articles

1.2+ billion impressions

US$1.5M earned media value

100% of articles delivered positive sentiment

STRONG SALES, HIGHER ROI WITH EARNED MEDIA

Business Objective: Show that earned creative could deliver stronger traffic and sales than LTO campaigns

Business Results: Our activation held at a single KFC store managed to increase orders and sales for stores across the entire city compared to the previous month when LTO campaigns ran with advertising.

+17.1% in sales over Hong Kong (vs. previous month)

+11.68% increase in orders (vs. the previous month)

The work was designed specifically for the Hong Kong market, leveraging insights unique to Hong Kong and its inhabitants.

Namely, we tapped into our understanding that Hong Kong is one of the mot stressed-out, strung-out cities on the plane. We aimed our campaign directly at those stressed-out Hong Kongers with an innovative and comedic approach that would grab their attention, resonate with their experience and offer them a fun in-store experience to counteract the problem - at least for one day!

KFC COMPETES WITH A WIDE RANGE OF COMPETITORS, NOT ONLY MCDONALD'S

The fast-food market in Hong Kong is highly competitive. With most locals preferring Chinese food from affordable local cafes, it puts western fast food at an inherent disadvantage. Furthermore, people in the city often see “western fast food” as one category, and thus, KFC isn’t only in competition against other major fried chicken players and McDonald’s, it is also competing against burger outlets, pizza delivery, sandwiches, Mexican and so much more.

COVID RESTRICTIONS LED TO BIG DECLINES IN RESTAURANT SALES

Hong Kong was still under one of the world’s strictest Covid-19 regimes at the time of the campaign, which put multiple restrictions on restaurants and caused traffic and sales