Haters are going to say that this campaign is the not so subtle copy of Angry Birds game. But when it comes to rewarding KFC taste enticed customers, who cares about that?
One thing is to be kept in mind: 7% of Australia’s whole population downloaded the app within 6 weeks. Quite impressive, huh?
2,500 free prizes were given away every day of the campaign that ran from October 8 to December 2, 2013. All rewards were received through the game played on mobile and were gained in all 600 KFC stores across Australia.
The creative team intended to raise the attention of the young and dynamic audience in a way that it would bring natural awareness increase of KFC’s snacking menu and generate bigger sales across KFC stores Australia-wide. How to do it? By combining elements like laser, malicious characters, heroes and tasty KFC prizes.
The game users earn points (or stars) by completing challenges. They are asked to help popcorn chickens escape from the lair of Professor Snackbot by propelling them through Lairs. The chickens have to avoid obstacles and get into the safe zone of their savior The Colonel. There are 18 levels across 3 "lair" environments.
“The aim is to reward all users with their favorite food prizes and generate awareness of the snacking menu range as a by-product. The food rewards are used to generate organic downloads and play via a gifting mechanic using Facebook Connect, allowing users to brag about their prowess while sharing unredeemed prizes with their friends, thus playing to the egos of young males,“ said Jason Deacon – Creative Director, DT.
KFC’s ‘Snack! In the Face’ enhanced time as a factor – the winning condition was to complete rescue mission at a specific time 2-5 pm. That reflected in increasing the sales on snack in that mentioned interval.
KFC’s Marketing Manager, Adam Draper, said: “The app is part of the brand's long-term digital strategy. Digital is changing the way we market our business and satisfy consumer demand and is an important channel for interacting with customers one-on-one. Historically KFC has used above the line tactics however with over 70% of Australians using apps on a daily basis, KFC Snack! In the Face presents a great opportunity for the brand to directly engage with its customers via a digital medium."
“For KFC, the app is an opportunity to harness its target audience’s attention in a fun way, and also communicate key snack menu choices through mobile. The app gives consumers the additional ability to engage with KFC at both a mobile and in-store level”, continued Adam Draper.
The KFC Australia’s first ever branded app and the mobile game became no. 1 in app store and it had 300k downloads in only 6 weeks. 7% of the total of Australian population downloaded it. It achieved impressive concrete results – a 20% increase in sales over four weeks, and the equivalent of 4.85 million TV commercial views.
