Ogilvy Australia

Client: KFC
Product: Fast Food
Title: Michelin Impossible
Media: Key Media Channel - Social
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: 17th June 2019 – 12th July 2019

Background: We gave KFC's most remote store owner a Facebook account, ghost writer, media training, production crew, pan-agency support team, and a mission to get Kentucky Fried Chicken the ultimate symbol of food quality: a Michelin Star. There’s no higher accolade of quality in the food world than getting a Michelin Star. But Michelin hasn’t placed Australia on its culinary map yet, let alone any mainstream fast food chain. Our idea wasn’t about actually getting KFC a Michelin Star, but getting credit for making quality fried chicken – by associating ourselves with the well-known culinary prestige and status of the Michelin Guide. But we needed to do this in a way that was credible. So we developed a believable narrative and carefully cast Sam, an incredibly charismatic KFC store owner that Australia would want to get behind. Because every Aussie loves an underdog story. You've seen Crocodile Dundee, right?Independent research identified that simply reminding people that the letters KFC stood for ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ immediately improved perceptions of food quality. By referring to KFC’s chicken as Kentucky Fried Chicken, it conjured up notions of “care”, “authenticity” and “expertise”. So the team needed to find a credible way to get this new (but old) brand name out there. Yet a traditional campaign that just told people that KFC is short for Kentucky Fried Chicken was going to be a bit banal, and potentially KFC just talking to itself. We needed to do something crazy enough that Aussies would actually take notice of. So the campaign’s bold strategy was to ditch traditional advertising, and instead associate KFC with an independent symbol of food quality – the Micheline Guide – leveraging its credibility and influence to get Kentucky Fried Chicken the quality kudos it deserved.

Idea: We devised a carefully crafted, social-first narrative to ensure our mission would be accepted and embraced by the Australian public. Authenticity was crucial. So even though the initial content was scripted and shot weeks before launch, the mission played out in real-time via a Facebook Group that appeared to be set-up by Sam. The Facebook Group and all content was produced to look as if Sam was championing the mission alone. But it was actually a highly considered and professionally produced content hub, that also acted as a goldmine for journalists.We had a million ideas on where the mission would take Sam, planning multiple different ways the story could play out. After a global swell of social (and earned media) support, we ended up scoring Sam a highly unlikely meeting with the International Director of Michelin Guide, and had a crew ready to capture the moment in Paris.

Results: 1. REACH as many Australians as possible: The campaign generated:• 564 pieces of media coverage (target: 51) • 662,545,320 impressions (target: 21,255,000) The global audience increased our results to 724 pieces of media, with a reach of 850 million impressions. 2. CHANGE PERCEPTIONS about KFC’s food quality: Post-campaign research showed increased positive perceptions about our food quality above our KPI of 50%: • 65% agreed “it improved my perceptions of the quality of KFC’s food • 59% agreed “it makes me feel better about eating KFC” • 68% agreed “it makes me crave the food more” 3: SALES• Sales growth of 7.6% (category growth was 3.7%)