2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

KFC fries suck. A sentiment shared by most Canadians and a sentiment they
needed to change.

After 71 years of bad fries, KFC finally introduced New Seasoned Fries to Canada. New tasty seasoning, a new fry container to improve crispiness, and a brand new low price for a limited time. Their objective was to convince Canadians to give their new fries a shot, even if they are a little jaded from their old ones.

KFC’s old fries were rated the lowest out of all the QSRs in Canada. In fact, only 1% of Canadians said it was their favorite fries and 87% of Canadians expressed negative sentiments about the taste of KFC's fries. They were reviewed as bland, soggy, and were often unfinished. Not only did the public trash the fries online, they also demanded them to finally meet their end.

Rather than shy away from this embarrassing reality, they decided to embrace it. Before they said hello to the new fries, they were going to formally say goodbye to the old ones by holding the first-ever “Fry Funeral”. A real, solemn send-off and goodbye to the old, soggy, bland KFC fries.

This came to life with the construction of a Fry Coffin and a fully-realized funeral held at a real funeral home in Toronto. They live-streamed the funeral, complete with a eulogy on the most-popular social platforms and let the world send their regards. The Fry Coffin also made its way around the streets of Toronto in a KFC-branded hearse that toured around Toronto’s major hubs, starting at a KFC and ending at the funeral home itself. They captured bite-sized TikTok content of the funeral and hearse tour promoting the end of the old fries and introducing the new ones.

Their campaign became KFC's second biggest PR success ever, garnering over 3.7 billion impressions online thanks to the engaging social campaign. Additionally increasing brand consideration by 85% and brand popularity by 1,950%. But most importantly it made a huge lift in sales. Same store sales grew by a massive 7.8%. And increased store traffic by 2.2% meaning KFC had already exceeded their YTD
by only June.

Ultimately their campaign got people off their seats into their stores to welcome a new era of delicious KFC fries.

Credits

Agency: Courage
Founder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + President: Niki Sahni
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
Writer: Matt Miller
Art Director: Tommy Yong
Senior Strategist: Lyndsey Westfall
Group Account Director: Alex Karayannides
Account Supervisor: Atria Ghosh
Account Coordinator: Chloe Chan
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Producer: Katie Fowler

Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Marketing Director: Azim Akhtar
Marketing Manager: Laura Mallozzi
Senior Manager: Lauren Pottie
Marketing Director: Telly Carayannakis
Social Media + Partnerships Specialist: Salina Ratanji

Production: Spy Films
Director: Hope Little
Executive Producer: Marcus Trulli
DP: John Ker
Assistant Director: Jeffery Cowan
Line Producer : Mollie Rolfe
Production Designer: Hope Little
Production Manager: Steven Goetz
Coordinator: Leah Munro

Offline: Nimiopere
Editor: Nick Yumul
Assistant Editor: Parnika Raj
Executive Producer: Julie Axell

Transfer: Studio Feather
Colourist: Ana Escorse
Colour Assist: Ebi Agbeyegbe
Executive Producer: Chantelle Blagrove

Online: Alter Ego
Senior VFX Artist: Joel Osis
VFX Assistant: Saba Zahir
Producer: Andrew Tavares
Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira

Audio: Vapor Music
Creative Director: Ethan Myers
Sound Engineer: Julian Rudd
Sound Design: Dave Worthen
Producer: Kat Stewart

Casting: Mann Casting
Casting Director: Steven Mann
Casting Director: Sarah Sheps
Casting Associate: Andy Reid

Media: Wavemaker
CEO: Nikki Stone
Associate Director: Daniel Balment
Senior Media Planner: Blanca Gamez
Assistant Media Planner: Marcelyn Tran

PR: Narrative
Executive Creative Director: Jessie Sorell
Account Director: Daliah Hijazi Marsons