MEGATHREAD - An advertising masterclass from KFC!

There was a brilliant interview in  @contagious recently with  @Hermeti Balarin, ECD @motherlondon about how @KFC_UKI navigated covid's challenges.

https://www.contagious.com/news-and-views/a-banjo-among-violins-the-stratkfcs-pandemic-marketing

Here are seven fascinating takeaways...

I've re-read the piece a few times now and there are some fascinating lessons on how to create brilliant, culturally impactful and timely advertising, along with some sage nods to marketing science & smart media planning.

1) Use your distinctive assets relentlessly, but also be willing to twist and mess with them.

KFC are masters at using 'distinctive assets' (or what  @markritson would call 'brand codes').

From the bucket to the Colonel to their tagline to how they photograph their chicken.

But in this piece Balarin references how they have actively played into the 'inappropriateness' of their 'finger lickin' tagline and blurred it out on all advertising!

In doing so, they've arguably made a distinctive asset even more famous!

As Balarin says 'Every brand will have their DNA and how they speak, just find that and you’ll be surprised that you can appear in almost any situation, as long as it’s seen to be true to who you are.'

2) Play into culture, rather than ignoring it.

Many brands are totally solipsistic & inward looking. They live in fantasy worlds and never acknowledge rough edges. KFC are the opposite. They've shown this with brilliant campaigns like 'Chicken Town'. https://twitter.com/shaneoleary1/status/1297941932656734209

In this instance, they picked up on the trend of people trying to re-create KFC at home and blew it up, launching a cheeky #RateMyKFC competition that create some fun. This is a great example of brand building on social.

Next, when delivery opened, they created the 'We'll take it from here' spot which again poked fun at people's home-made KFC creation fails!

3) Brand building needs big, mass reach media

There's a brilliant quote from Balarin who says 'with media budgets being slashed and everything it would be really easy to shrink back into hard working programmatic, but KFC fought tooth and nail to give stature to the campaign.'

They put it on as many big prime-time TV spots as they could. They also invested in 'big' OOH formats and long form press copy to create impact.

Formats that delivered stature, attention and fame.

In order to create real impact, we know that brands need to reach lots of people in an attention grabbing way. Many companies are cutting back on 'brand building' and investing in more short term channels. KFC did the opposite.

4) Strike when others are fearful

This is the advice that many industry heads have been giving to brands (inc. Binet & Field). KFC took heed. They purposefully took advantage of the opportunity to gain reach, SOV and cut through by going big when everyone else was quiet.

From what we know about SOV:SOM, this will also benefit them over the long term.

According to KFC's Head Of Advertising Kate Wall, 'to be spending on brand building right now is bold and brave, but it is absolutely what we’ve always done and we always see the results come in'

5) The immensely freeing power of consistency

Because KFC has a distinct TOV and approach to advertising, they were able to take this and apply it.

The wonderful line from the piece is that 'when everybody else is bringing the violin, we're going to bring the banjo'.

6) Avoid generic covid advertising and tired tropes

'A lot of brands went into quite a weird ‘we’re here for you’ mode, which felt quite cynical in lots of places.' How many generic 'we're all in this together' covid ads have we seen?

So many brands changed their campaigns to reflect the wider reality, but in doing so, made themselves generic and more invisible.

KFC did the opposite, they tried to inject some levity and fun back into their advertising.

They understood that instead of violins and maudlin music, 'brands could thrive by being the entertainment that people were missing.'

7) Make critical decisions quickly

KFC had launched a new 'Finger Lickin' campaign in February, which obviously didn't translate well to a world besieged by covid. So they moved immediately to pull the campaign ahead of time, avoiding any hint of tone deafness.

Then, when the time came to go back on air, 'KFC were much more tuned into the moment, were faster back' and this has resulted in 'the business going through a really great period'.

Instead of being paralysed by fear, they understood that in advertising, speed often wins.

In summary, this is a fascinating case study in 'creative bravery' that also seems to be paying off commercially for the company with 'insane' sales.

A fascinating case study from a brand (and agency) that is doing some great work.