I never thought I’d say I’m sick of KFC. I’m totally there though. I’ve had a follow and blog about an integrated marketing campaign for an uni assignment. Lost for inspiration about what more to write about KFC, I did what any self-respecting digital marketer would do and asked Facebook. This post is for you Judd!Judd responded to my plea for help with, ”Read your blog posts with interest Lesleigh, and having only experience in Direct Marketing I’m interested to know how you see KFC would be measuring the success of this Goodification campaign? (I touched on that here) Also I’m interested to find out how similar to other campaigns KFC’s is. Hope this gives you some ‘food for thought’.”
So is “Goodification” similar to other KFC campaigns? They’ve never really committed such offenses against the English language in previous campaigns…!? I think the essence of their brand was still carried through this though.
Their previous campaigns center around getting a finger licking good meal with your mates. Think about it, all the visual executions which feature people are always two or more people happily eating chicken or burgers. This theme has been used with family meal deal promos and well as new burger launches. Check out this TVC from the 1960s!
The essence of their messaging really hasn’t changed, they come back to ‘finger licking good’, great taste, secret recipe or a play on ‘good’ in pretty much everything they release. In 2009, they ran with the tag line ‘can’t beat that taste’.
And just for some fun, I can across this on YouTube (and being a trekkie I couldn’t resist!)
Ok, back to the serious side of ‘finger licking good’. What is a bit different this time is KFC seem to be trying to make this push on ‘healthier menu options’. This isn’t a new thing though. Their competitors did this years ago; Maccas with their ‘Real Tastes’ campaign and more recently Red Rooster with their ‘Don’t think twice takeaway’ campaign. At the end of the day it’s junk food, and in excess it’s never going to be good for you… think back to Super Size Me!
It’s about KFC catching up with their competition in a world that is becoming increasingly more health conscious. They’ve touched this concept before when they pushed their food being ‘fresh’ (the Colonel tells you all about it himself in the above TVC clip from the 1960s) and they worked it in again more recently with ‘Fresh Tastes Best‘.
How seriously do people take KFC with their healthier offerings though? Seriously, this comes from the same company who launched “The Double” aka “Heart Attack in a Wrapper” in 2011 which Mumbrella listed as number 1 on the largest launches of 2011. The funniest thing is the fans are screaming for ‘The Double’ to make a come back.
In my mind, ‘Goodification’ is a new spin on the essence of their brand. And now the campaign hype is dying down a bit, they are still using the same concepts they always have. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And I don’t know about you, but I’m never going to walk into KFC looking for a salad! It always has been and always will be all about the chicken!
Over the last decade Lesleigh Ross has been leading project and change teams in complex delivery environments and transformation projects across public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Leigh is highly skilled in industry best practice methodologies and frameworks which is demonstrated through her ability to deliver quality business outcomes across ‘green fields’ and recovery projects and programmes.
As a ‘digital native’ Leigh believes delivering innovation in business is only possible through collaborative project design where the business and technical teams work hand in hand. A geek in her own right Leigh is able to “degeek the geek” and facilitate effective engagement through all stages of project delivery.
Leigh is the current Queensland Lead for the Change Management Institute and a proud member of the Australian Institute of Project Management and the International Centre of Complex Project Management. She is active in her local chapters and national interest groups which are focused on improving the professionalism, diversity and inclusion within the project management community.
