BLOG - KFC - Passive aggressive much?

MCA – Mark out of Ten 

by Mark McCulloch, Founder at Supersonic Inc.  

Twitter and Insta @supersonic_inc 

KFC - Passive aggressive much? 

 Like buses, you wait ages for two pieces of amazing communications from a brand and then they all turn up at once (see column of two weeks ago talking about KFC open invite into their kitchens). It’s hats off again (sorry, not sorry that it is two columns in a row), but you have to tip your hat to KFC that achieved a real Zinger of an ad that firmly placed them as the Daddy of the fired chicken world. They managed to claim higher ground, stamp their authority at being the original whilst putting every other faker in place with just a few words. “Guys, we’re flattered”. The ad, the line, the thinking had more sass that Beyonce and a better put down than Jimmy Carr could ever imagine. The most surprising thing about the ad was the shareability of it and the fact that it was a newspaper that people photographed and shared it, Linked In seeming to be the channel of choice. I wasn’t sure many people read actual newspapers any more, so this proved me wrong. A landmark print ad, can go viral on social if you put enough effort in. The most pleasing thing is that this is classic advertising at its best a pure brand ad, not direct sales, no call to action. It’s a beautiful thing and will do wonders for their brand health and awareness. They will be measuring that (not many companies in our sector do). I would love to know what this did to sales, online visits, deliveries, social buzz and softer brand kpis. Again, this puts KFC into an audience that may not be their core, but through admiration and appreciation of an ad well done, their consideration from those who have moved on, feel they are better than the bucket or just haven’t been for a while are back in play as customers due to a timely reminder of long gone respect for some.  

I’d be really interested to see what you all thought. Tweet me @supersonic_inc or Mark McCulloch on LinkedIn #mcabites 

Idea – 10/10 

Effort vs Return - 10/10 

Execution – 10/10 

Impact – 10/10 

Summary – 10/10. KFC have fried all copycats forever.