The Campaign

Flirting is fast becoming a big thing with millennial Malaysians, fueled by the popularity of dating apps such as Tinder. So much so, that even local dating apps have now emerged in the region such as Mak & Minah (Muslim friendly dating app), Paktor and Khemistry. Capitalising on this flirtatious state, the big idea was a Hot & Cheezy burger who flirted with Malaysians based on the exact video they were watching.

Creative Execution

Using data supplied by Google, we created about 10-20 micro-videos a week to mirror the top 25 trending videos across leading 10 categories viewed on YouTube across languages. By the end of the campaign, we created over 100 videos. Some of the trending samples that inspired our micro-videos are: Adele's Hello, Malaysia's top badminton player Lee Chong Wei playing defending champion Chen Long from China, dialogues by South Indian star Rajinikanth and cute cat videos. We then optimized the media investment based on data we got on how consumers responded to the pre-rolls, removing ones that had low completion rates. We also created a profile for our burger on Tinder. Hot and Cheezy attracted attention by calling users to 'swipe me right' with its infamous cheesy lines. Matches on Tinder led to a 'date' at popular malls, where big interactive screens allowed the public to chat live with our burger.

Millennials watched. Viewing completion rates touched 35%, breaking Google Malaysia’s record for pre-roll view through rates. The average view rate for any pre-roll campaign in Malaysia prior to this was only around 17%! They shared. Despite it being a programmatic campaign, millennials loved our videos so much they shared and talked about it. We managed to get, on average, 4X more organic views that previous KFC Malaysia videos. Some videos hit as high as 37% organic views! They visited. 13% more customers visited KFC during the campaign month, the highest in 40 months! KFC’s TopofMind recall increased by 45% to 62% from October 2015 to December 2015, the highest ever! More importantly, they bought. Sales increased by 16% week-on-week, and outperformed targets by 50%!

KFC Hot & Cheezy used data and programmatic distribution to create over 100 tailor-made films based on what you were watching on YouTube. We also replicated the same style of responsiveness, customizability and understanding of audience data to apply the concept acress web banners, social, print, outdoor and even on tinder.

Malaysian youths are fickle foodies thanks to the variety in our cuisine. Just like our changing habits when it comes to food, we had to develop a campaign aligned with what the younger generation liked to view online. But, Millennials are likely to just ‘click’ their way past the mundane. Using programmatic technology to create and distribute brand messaging in a millennial-relevant manner, we developed a campaign that ‘clicked’ with the younger generation. Our idea: A Hot & Cheezy burger who flirted with Malaysians on YouTube by spouting cheesy lines related to the video currently being watched.