Bridget Jung, chief strategy & creative officer, Ogilvy PR, and Toby Talbot, chief creative officer, Ogilvy Network ANZ:
Launching KFC Degustation on April 1 was no joke. We were deadly serious about turning Australia’s toughest food critics into KFC ambassadors.
This campaign builds on the brand’s success with Michelin Impossible in 2019 and highlights how KFC has long known the value of doing rather than just saying. In 2019 we started a conversation about KFC being worthy of a seat at the fine dining table. In 2022, we went one step further. We actually built our own fine dining restaurant from scratch and designed an 11-course degustation menu to give Australia’s most discerning, respected, and influential food critics a way they can openly admit to loving KFC.
The KFC agency village works very well together and each part added something to the overall experience by playing a role along the entire journey from conception through to execution. Craft was at the heart of everything we did from the big obvious stuff down to the smallest details like the FAQ copy on the booking website.
We spent over a year working with Nelly Robinson (aka Australia’s degustation king) to develop each of the 11 courses. The choice of the chef for this type of campaign was critical. Nelly had the credentials in the degustation space (famous for his Disney themed degustation menus) and he also understood and reflected the larrikin spirit of KFC. A lot of love and passion went into crafting each plate. It was fine dining but, importantly, we never took ourselves too seriously.
We took the Colonel to a place he’d never ventured before, deep into the world of food snobs. But we always stayed true to the brand. The fun part of this campaign was getting the right balance between believable and ridiculous. We played with the tropes and conventions of the fine dining world. At times we leaned into excess. For example, we treated our guests to ridiculously lavish $200-a-bottle French champagne on arrival. And at times we pushed back and broke fine dining conventions by asking them to do what comes naturally with KFC lovers, not use cutlery. Instead we asked them to lick the plate clean to experience KFC’s famous Twister. Nelly devised a dish that encouraged the diner to enjoy a spicy mix of tomato, lettuce and pepper mayo in the shape of the Colonels’ face. But to do it with your tongue. It was so refreshing to see Australia’s elite critics licking their plate clean.
Each of our 11 courses was a playful combination of fine dining and KFC. The classic Potato & Gravy was reimagined as a gravy candle that melts so that you can dip your potato bun into the “wax”. We took the Popcorn Chicken our fans know and love paired it with celeriac soup, mushroom gnocchi and basil topped off with an edible floral garnish. The La Di Da Drumstick (aka Fried Gold) served up our iconic Original Recipe drumstick dusted with quinoa and gold ‘coz we don’t call it Fried Gold for nothing. Even the table cloth was designed with social media in mind. Each plate was strategically placed on the table cloth so that the name wrapped around the plate in an Instagram worthy, and social media ready way.
The restaurant replicated the experience customers would expect of a fine-dining establishment, complete with pre-drinks, mood lighting, five-star service, wine pairings, theatrical reveals, and over-the-top presentation of food. With a few cheeky KFC-style flourishes to keep it from being too serious and off-brand.
Over 20,000 people made a reservation request hoping to secure one of the 180 seats over the 3 nights our restaurant was open. It’s crazy to think that this represents over $3 million in bookings for Haute KFC and that we could have run the restaurant for 333 days in succession.
Mainstream earned media coverage created awareness, and a special critic and influencer seating on opening night ensured the ‘quality’ message was heard loud and nation-wide. One of the things that really helped with media pickup was putting time and investment into photography for all of our media assets. This meant that it was easy for journalists to tell the story visually and it ensured our story traveled well in social media.
We also held back on announcing what the entire menu was at launch. Whilst we knew media would want to attend to see what all the fuss was about, we also wanted to be on brand and keep some secrecy. This created a nice surprise when guests sat down and saw the full 11 course menu, giving them more to talk about in their follow up articles. We also pitched our story internationally and an article in Newsweek led to Jimmy Fallon giving us a shout out on his show. Thanks for the spork gag Jimmy. We owe you.
When the whole experience came together it demonstrated that the only difference in quality between the Kentucky Fried Chicken you can buy every day and the fine-dining version - was an over-the-top, theatrical, fancy and ultimately superfluous experience.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.