She comes down the stairs in a beautiful soft pink chiffon gown; your little girl. A bit nervous, she stands to the side as you open the door for her date. As he takes the box from behind his back the smell of grease wafts through the entryway, and she swoons over the piece of poultry he places on her wrist.....
Wait...Wha?
Yup, now you have seen everything.
I love this KFC stunt from 2014 for a few reasons, the most obvious of which is it has people scratching their heads (talking), and the brand has lost little in the way of respect, or value. If anything, they gets points for creativity and driving home their key messages.
However 'stupid' or pointless you think the stunt is, it does some pretty important things for the brand - which should be the formula for any good PR STUNT:
1. Taps into a specific market - in this case, young teens. That ever-elusive demographic over which marketers kill themselves trying to stretch out their 6 second vine-like attention spans.
2. Creates buzz and builds opportunities for Sharing, Re-purposing. #prom, #KFCcorsage, #HowDoYouKFC, Instagram pics, I would be so bold to suggest step-by-step video on how make your OWN chicken corsage, (but they didn't hire me).
2. Creates demand by limiting quantity (only 100 act fast!)
2. Brings the customer back fondly to the number one key message and value proposition that KFC holds over everyone else.... THAT SMELL!
This last point is nicely reinforced below in their video (which you'll be surprised you sit through and watch) ... and that awkward moment when the girl would rather make out with a piece of chicken than have her first kiss.... you can watch the video here :)
nom nom nom!