2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

AI has become the ultimate tool for finding information, from student essays to chicken recipes. Using AI they discovered over 1.2 million KFC copycat recipes online. And with the right tools you can sift through all of them to create a so-called perfect fried chicken recipe. As impressive as that sounds, some things are still better done by hand. As a brand built on human craft for more than 80 years, they used AI itself to prove that KFC’s made-by-hand Original Recipe will always reign supreme.

KFC’s Original Recipe vs the Best of the Internet

The agency set out to create the strongest possible challenger recipe. They built an AI-designed fried chicken recipe made from the best the internet has to offer. By training a custom dataset on what people love across global fried chicken cultures, they gave AI its fairest shot. Then they put its creation head to head with KFC’s Original Recipe in the ultimate taste test.

To build the challenger recipe, AI engineers used Lovable.AI, a full-stack tool that allowed them to scrape, sort, and interpret the flavours, techniques, and ingredients that define the world’s favourite fried chicken. The resulting AI recipe was then cooked by a professional chef to ensure the most accurate representation possible.

They brought the showdown to life in a fully integrated campaign. Influencers teased the experiment and invited people to try both recipes. Inside KFC restaurants, customers, food critics, and skeptics participated in official taste tests to crown the winner. Online, a custom microsite let people access the AI recipe, recreate it at home, and share their verdicts. Digital OOH with QR codes helped drive even more traffic to the experience. With global interest in AI at an all-time high, this was the perfect cultural hook to remind the world that when it comes to fried chicken, technology cannot replace human craft.

The results were definitive. Eighty-eight percent of customers chose KFC over AI. The campaign reignited relevance among a skeptical audience and delivered a 360 percent lift in quality perception, a 112 percent increase in brand love, and a 158 percent increase in likelihood to recommend. Customer reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with many telling AI to stick to essays and emails.

Most importantly, the campaign re-established KFC’s supremacy as the number one fried chicken recipe and proved that when it comes to fried chicken, you just cannot beat the Original.

Credits

Agency
Courage Inc.
Founder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + President: Niki Sahni
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
Partner + EP: Clair Galea
Strategy Director: Derek Mollenhauer
Senior Strategist: Lyndsey Westfall
Associate Creative Director: Matt Miller
Associate Creative Director: Tommy Yong
Copywriter: Kushal Lalvani
Creative Director: Steve Ierullo
Creative Director: Hemal Dhanjee
Group Account Director: Alex Karayannides
Account Director: Kyron Sobers
Account Supervisor: Nick Lepp
Account Executive: Zoe Fetsis
Producer: Dan Rankin
Sr. Integrated Producer: Raquel Mullen
Sr. Production Designer: Jeannette Downes
Talent + Traffic Manager: Christine Baggs
PR Director: Natalia Banoub
PR Coordinator: Alexandra Smith
Client
KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond Debecki
Director, Marketing: Azim Akhtar
Senior Manager, Media & Regional Marketing: Lauren Pottie
Marketing Manager, Brand & Partnerships: Jordan Sequeira
Associate Marketing Manager: Olha Safonik
Production (Video)
Nimble Content
Director: John Cullen
Executive Producer: Andrew Lynch
Line Producer: Kyle Welton
Production Manager: Don Lucey
DOP: Kris Belchevski
1st AC: Jurek Oosterfelt
2nd AC: Stephan Maia
Gaffer: Neil Munro
Grip: Adam McDonald
Package Truck Driver: Tony Connor
Mixer: Kris Delchev
Hair & Makeup: Jasmine Duffey
PA: Kelly Dutton
PA: Paul Lucey
PA: Steve Martin
Production (Second Unit)
Director and DOP: Julian Peter
Line Producer: Dan Rankin
Boom Operator: James Lazarenko
Production Coordinator: Parker Wales
Offline & Online Editorial
Courage Inc.
Offline Editor & Online Artist: Adrian Ryan
Offline Editor: Marcus Barrie
Post Production Coordinator: Parker Wales
Colour
Alter Ego
Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira
Producer: Sam Omand
Colourist: Lily Henry
Colour Assistant: Sabrina Salerno
Audio House & Original Music
Eggplant Music & Sound
Executive Producer: Nicola Treadgold
Producer: Laura Merrett