KFC catches attention with finger lickin' fresh strategy

Challenge

Singapore's fast-food landscape has become saturated various market offerings. While KFC held the highest market share across all fried chicken quick-service restaurants (QSR), new entrants were introducing variations of the dish and dominant QSR players started to include fried chicken options in their product offerings.

KFC faced competition from every direction and unpredictable pandemic regulations added to KFC's existing operations and labour crunch. The team realised that consumers were no longer craving KFC's Original Recipe and Hot & Crispy Chicken prior to their store visit. KFC was at risk of losing its market standing as the top barrier for consumers choosing KFC was a lack of craving, a key driver for competitors.

Strategy

Through social listening, quantitative studies and feedback analysis, KFC learnt that Singaporeans had deeply imprinted perceptions of QSRs. Singaporeans believed that QSRs were factories where servers dispassionately flash fry frozen foods that looked nothing like their advertisements and that QSR did not care about customer satisfaction. This contrasted with growing sentiments in other food categories, such as hawker culture, where Singaporeans were acknowledging the high quality of food owing to the effort hawkers placed into every ingredient and dish. This formed KFC's insight: Singaporeans saw fast food as an industry devoid of effort.

KFC realised that it had to let Singaporeans know that it was unlike other QSR brands. Aware of the heightened sensitivity audiences had towards false advertising and empty promises from QSRs, KFC knew that passive assurance was not enough to demonstrate its commitment to providing consumers with high quality products.

A commitment strategy was developed with three key pillars of focus that would make up the Colonel's Guarantee campaign:

1. Invest in people

To demonstrate KFC's commitment in delivering the best tasting chicken, KFC put in place a certification programme to retrain all Cooks and the Operations Team. The Quality Assurance team was roped in to ensure standards of its chicken across all restaurants in Singapore were up to mark. To motivate workers, a Cook Challenge was conducted at the end to reinforce and ingrain the procedures.

2. Taste Promise

To demonstrate its commitment to quality, KFC launched The Colonel's Guarantee - a one- for-one exchange promise that customers can exchange their fried chicken if they felt it was not finger-licking good. The programme remains active beyond the campaign period as a long- term commitment to quality.

3. Value offer

Understanding that the taste promise alone was not enough to incentivize Singaporeans to visit KFC's restaurants, KFC introduced value deals to encourage the purchase and trial of KFC's fried chicken products. KFC also revealed its preparation methods to the public via a series of social media post since open kitchen tours which we conducted were no longer possible due to pandemic restrictions. KFC hoped to educate Singaporeans about the effort that goes into every piece of chicken.

Execution

To spark conversations and evoke cravings, KFC launched the campaign by bolding announcing the Colonel's Guarantee to Singapore in a film by making KFC's iconic founder - Colonel Sanders - the face of the film. Against the backdrop of a KFC kitchen, the Colonel promised that if the customer's chicken was not tender, juicy or fresh, a replacement would be made. To spark nationwide conversation, the film was placed on high viewership platforms across television, social and digital media.

Mouthwatering visuals of KFC chicken went on print, OOH placements in high-traffic areas, such as MRT platforms, on social and digital and were even blown up larger-than-life on KFC's delivery trucks. These touchpoints were chosen to interrupt Singaporeans on their everyday routines, whether they were on the road or watching a YouTube video and seed undeniable crave for KFC chicken.

On radio, KFC seized Singaporeans' attention while on their daily commutes to announce the Colonel's Guarantee to them. KFC ran radio ads and open talk sequences that dived deeper into the processes in a KFC kitchen. One of the most important touchpoints was in front of the KFC kitchens. KFC placed Pledge of Quality posters in-store that served as a promise to consumers and a rallying manifesto for staff. This was complemented by tray liners and staff badges that reminded consumers of KFC's commitment while immersed in the sights, smells and sounds of KFC.

KFC developed a tactical communications plan to let Singaporeans know about the unbeatable deals. These went out on social media and digital banners that led users straight to KFC's delivery platform on KFC's website and App. Assets touting the deal were unmissable in-store to trigger consumers purchase.

(a) Analyse KFC's campaign and how it follows or does not follow New Marketing Normal or Marketing 3.0 concepts. How does the campaign execute on the 6PS of the New Marketing Normal - Product, Price, Promotion, Placement, Principles and Participation?

(b) Compare and contrastthree (3)ways the traditional sales funnel differs from the Digital Involvement Cycle, ensuring that you answer within the context of the case scenario.

(c) Analyse KFC's use of the Digital Involvement Cycle (DIC) principles - does it use traditional sales funnel principles more or DIC principles more? How so?