?? KFC Are On ??

Fastfood has had the crap kicked out of it for some time, and quite rightfully so in many cases but the huge multinationals are taking to social media to make their brands more interesting and relevant to customers who have ever increasing levels of choice.

Whilst McDonalds still pay the price for being too slow and corporate some of the other players are taking to Twitter and having fun. Whilst Burger King have just delivered an absolute belter of a Halloween campaign I think KFC are delivering some great (and sometimes very weird) work. In some places it is as if they went to SXSW and took every prediction and decided to do something daft for each one. They launched a phone, launched a loyalty scheme, facial recognition and lots lots more but in a way that is quite entertaining rather than 'disruptive'.

I'm pulling out the best of the global work here specifically as the UK content is lacking a level of diversity and isn't playing as well as the other regions as it focuses on quality.

Here’s my top 5.

Kentucky Fried Clothing

In a time when Deliveroo jackets are being sold on Depop for ￡50 KFC clearly saw a way to get a piece of the streetwear market (even if it was just for fun). Back in July the Colonel launched a 16 piece range of clothing exclusively available online at kfclimited.com, not only did it get regular media coverage for hype but even the streetwear blogs were promoting this including High Snobiety.

Not only was the range funny (including a Colonel Sanders Halloween mask) but it was actually well designed and relevant. You can also see McDonalds doing this but it's not exactly commercial, Pizza Hut delivered and expect to see Greggs getting in on the action soon.

The Twitter Follower Thing

Unless you've been under a rock you would have seen this hyped. In short KFC's global Twitter account follows only 11 people, 5 Spice Girls and 6 guys called Herb giving a nod to the 11 herbs and spices.

Now, something tells me this was smart but I think it was very much planned to get this hyped and they did it very well. Adweek ran a great feature and then slated it in a second, always the sign of success.

Regardless of the industry hype, the most important thing here is how they made you FEEL about KFC. Suddenly I don't think it's just chicken, drive thru's or fried food I think of KFC as a place of fun, a sense of humour and a brand that isn't a corporate beast. That is priceless.

KFC Dash Button

This example is from India and really simple. I'd be surprised if it had mass adoption but it is a very cheap way of creating a product on a tech stack that exists. This also highlights KFC's constant play into tech but in a way that is almost comical. Tap the button, get chicken.

ASMR

Becoming one of the fastest growing content forms on YouTube there was no way that KFC were going to miss out. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response has it's critics but also has a lot of science behind it and this video featuring the Colonel is spot on. This was part of a series of videos which have since been removed from YouTube. Headphones in, turn up the volume and enjoy 2m 22s of weirdness.

One small step for Chicken

What better way to end this than showing that KFC can lob a burger into space because... well, because. Registering the domain https://yesweareactuallysendingachickensandwichto.space (can't believe this wasn't taken already!) and telling the story from end to end might have become a little tiring across social media but it's a good talking point and also delivered some really great visual content.

Just one more thing...

Honestly there was a huge list of weirdness that I could have included, so here are the ones that didn't make the top 5.