Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

‘KFC Weddings’ was a real-world brand activation that united some very lucky Aussie couples love of KFC and each other. The couples and hundreds of their guests were treated to a full KFC themed and catered wedding experience.

Background

KFC’s ambition is to be the ‘King of Treats’. Problem is, as much as people love our food, many remain slightly embarrassed to be seen eating it in public, or carrying our branded bags around. It’s called ‘bag shame’.  So, our job was to help Australians overcome this shame, and normalise eating KFC.  The objective was to reach as many Australians as possible, and show them that eating KFC is nothing to be ashamed of. That you could even be proud to be seen eating it in public.    We’d noticed a social behaviour in Australia of couples and bridal parties stopping off at KFC to eat between the wedding ceremony and reception. This was a behaviour we knew was perfect to leverage to help us normalise eating KFC and helping overcome the issue of 'bag shame'. 

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We launched ‘KFC Weddings’.  A full-service wedding offering giving Aussies the chance to have the most public day of their lives themed and catered with KFC. A fried chicken lovers dream. And, a timely reminder that KFC is quality food that can be proudly served and eaten at the most public and important of occasions.  

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our strategy was to reach as many Australians as possible through PR and earned media. The mass exposure would help us make eating KFC more permissible by normalising it and creating the belief that it was perfectly fine to be seen publicly devouring our chicken - without fear of judgement - because everyone appeared to be doing it.  To do that, we needed to be seen as a natural part of Aussies' lives. And there is no more public day in people’s lives than their wedding day...

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We launched with a print ad somewhere place no one would expect to see KFC, but somewhere brides and grooms wouldn’t miss us - the glossy, high-end fashion pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar Bridal Edition.  The ad drove chicken loving lovers to the KFC Weddings website where they could apply to have a themed, fully catered KFC wedding experience. Which over 3,000 couples did. It proved to be a print ad that got Australia - and the world – talking, along with the entries flooding in.   On 29th Feb 2020, we held the world’s first official KFC Wedding in Queensland with Kate and Harry saying “I Do”. Paul and Sam in Melbourne exchanged vows a week later.  Each new wedding further normalising the behaviour of eating our delicious fried chicken.

List the results (30% of vote)

KFC Weddings was a PR juggernaut. Across the two major milestone moments, the announcement of the KFC Weddings service and the first KFC Wedding, the campaign resulted in an astounding 2,160 pieces of coverage stories landing both nationally and internationally across TV, radio, print, online and social media. In total we reached a whopping 1.2 billion people (not bad for a country of just 25 million) with our quality food message. KFC Weddings wasn’t just a Brand Activation that successfully penetrated culture to remind Aussies that KFC is quality food, it also helped achieve a sales growth of 5.3% Now that’s something to celebrate!

Please tell us how the work was designed / adapted for a single country / region / market

We noticed a behaviour in Australian culture where couples and bridal parties were stopping off at KFC between wedding ceremony and reception, so we wanted to go one better. Eight ‘KFC Weddings’ were up for grabs, with all Australian couples, from anywhere around the country, permitted to apply, they just needed to be over 18. The print ad that launched the campaign featured in the Australian Harper’s Bazaar bridal edition.