2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In Canada, McDonald’s outdoes KFC in pretty much everything — they spend 10 times more on marketing, have twice as many stores, have 8 times the market share, and have 10 times the share of voice.

But while McDonald’s is inarguably the leader in fast food, they aren’t the leader when it comes to fried chicken - that’s KFC’s territory. So when the big, bad burger chain decided to steer into KFC’s lane with the launch of the Chicken Big Mac on March 7th, a new twist on their signature sandwich, KFC wasn’t just going to watch it happen without doing anything.

They needed to reinforce their status as the undisputed champs when it
comes to chicken.

Their strategy was simple — if KFC has the best chicken, then any chicken sandwich would instantly be better with KFC’s famous fried chicken.

Early reviews critiqued the Chicken Big Mac's small, uninspiring patties. And research proved KFC's chicken was both better looking and better tasting. This gave us the confidence to boldly challenge the world's leading fast food chain.

Their idea was to ‘fix’ the underwhelming Chicken Big Mac by replacing its meager chicken patties with their generous, mouth-watering KFC fried chicken.

Minutes after McDonald’s Canada announced the launch on Twitter March 7th, 2023, KFC responded with a simple Tweet: “There, we fixed it,” accompanied by an image of the upgraded Chicken Big Mac using KFC’s mouth-watering chicken. The same visual was posted across KFC social channels calling out McDonald’s and its underwhelming entry into the chicken wars, and invited sandwich lovers, influencers, and media outlets to weigh in on who’s chicken was actually worth celebrating.

After KFC’s post, a Twitter war unfolded in real time. McDonald’s responded to KFC’s upgraded Chicken Big Mac with, “You don’t have to fix what’s already perfect bestie,” to which KFC replied “Taste test?”. The playful banter continued for a couple of days.

They didn’t stop there, they took the ‘fixed’ Chicken Big Mac to actual McDonald's locations with truck-sized billboards in front of their golden arches on March 3rd. Then they made it real by adding “The Big Fix" to KFC’s secret menu.

Having made ‘The Big Fix’ available to all, they then partnered with prominent food influencers like @mukbangmaxwell, who helped spread the word on social media.

Their ambitious goal to hijack the conversation was met with an impressive 18-fold increase in earned media compared to paid media, amounting to $9 million in earned media value (EMV). The debate not only fueled a 72% increase in social engagement, it generated an 86% rise in positive brand perception for KFC. Best of all, it had a remarkable impact on the business, boosting sales by 5.1% and generating an impressive 2859% return on spend. And it was all done for only $30,000 all in.

“Fixed It” has seen remarkable success in Canada, and has since been adapted in markets around the world, from South Africa to the UK, with more to come.

KFC successfully hijacked the conversation during their much anticipated launch of the Chicken Big Mac. And in doing so, reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.

Credits

Agency: Courage
Founder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + President: Niki Sahni
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
ACD, Writer: Hemal Dhanjee
ACD, AD: Steve Ierullo
Writer: Matt Miller
Art Director: Tommy Yong
Account Director: Amna Khalid
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Producer: Katie Fowler

Production: Fuze Reps
CGI Artist: Pierre Bourjo
Case Study Photographer: Sandy Nicholson

Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Marketing Director: Azim Akhtar

Media: Wavemaker
CEO: Nikki Stone
Managing Director: Dan Boem
Account Manager: Kelly Wong
Senior Media Planner: Blanca Gamez
Account Manager: Ani Hajderaj

PR: Narrative
EVP Managing Director: Cathy Mitchell
Managing Director, Chief Creative Officer: Meredith Klapowich
ECD: Jessie Sorell
Vice President: Lauren Baswick
Account Director: Sheri Clish
Account Director: Daliah Hijazi Marsons
Account Manager: Sreeja Sasidharan
Account Manager: Holly Wilks