2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

The fried chicken category is growing at an unprecedented rate, with consumption habits skewing towards younger Canadians. While KFC holds nostalgia for older generations in Canada, it struggles to connect to the younger ones. Seen as outdated, KFC risks significant declines if it doesn't stay culturally
relevant with Gen-Z.

Their goal was to resonate with young adults, bolstering affinity and positive perceptions towards KFC.

They turned to gaming. As one of the world's fastest-growing industries, every brand is vying for a stake. While many major brands secure their spot through expensive partnerships, few establish authentic connections. And they needed to find the right way to enter the gaming space without breaking the bank. And that wasn't going to be a traditional ad buy.

On June 23rd, Street Fighter 6 launched in North America to widespread excitement. With over 2 million games sold by July, it has firmly established itself as one of 2023's biggest games.

Brands spent millions to officially partner with SF6. So, how could KFC uniquely integrate itself and hack into SF6 at a fraction of the cost?

Street Fighter 6 launched with a bang, introducing several new features. One standout was its powerful character creator, allowing players to customize their own avatars. The gaming community quickly embraced this, crafting iconic avatars like the Terminator, Harley Quinn, Ice Spice, Mario, Drake, and more.

The character creator feature was named "Recipes." And Recipes have always been integral to KFC's DNA, from its original to its secret recipe.

A match made in gaming heaven.

Drawing on KFC's recipe legacy, they crafted their own recipe: Chef Colonel Sanders. They created a playable version of the Colonel, unlocking his iconic wardrobe and giving him a Street Fighter aesthetic to go pound for pound with characters like Ryu, Guile and Akuma.

To kick off the campaign, they ran sponsored ads on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, sharing their recipe code, and getting Canadians to play as Chef Colonel.

Now, players could battle as the Colonel. This sparked KFC's first-ever in-game promotion, urging gamers to turn their attack combos into KFC combos.

Use Chef Colonel in a combo, share it, and earn KFC deals.

While they knew older Canadians cherished KFC, they tapped into the younger generation's realm: gaming. The outcome? A whopping $16,135,600 in Earned Media Value, 2,203 game combos, and an 8% sales surge — all on a shoestring budget compared to competitors.

In just 2 hours, it became KFC’s single most shared video, with thousands of people reacting to the Street Fighterized version of Colonel Sanders with comments like: “Chef Sanders is deezed!,” “KFC just hadoukened the internet,” and even tagging famous celebrities that he resembled, like Seth Rogen and Guillermo Del Toro.

The campaign quickly picked up PR, getting the attention of prominent gaming publications like IGN, BRgaming, Nerdist, and CGMagazine — prompting Twitch streamers to download the recipe and turn combos into combos.

Credits

Agency: Courage
Founder, CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder, CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner, President: Niki Sahni
Partner, CSO: Tom Kenny
Executive Director of Development: Shannon Miller
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Steve Ierullo
Associate Creative Director, Writer: Hemal Dhanjee
Group Account Director: Alex Karayannides
Senior Strategist: Lyndsey Westfall
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Editor: Marcus Barrie

Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Director of Marketing: Azim Akhtar
Brand Manager: Jordan Sequeria

PR: Narrative
Account Director: Daliah Marsons

Media: Wavemaker
Senior Media Planner, Blanca Gamez
Associate Director, Daniel Balment