Best Marketing Case Studies & Campaigns

KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the few brands in America that can boast a rich, decades-long history of success and innovation. It all started with one cook who created a soon-to-be world-famous recipe more than 70 years ago, a list of secret herbs and spices scratched out on the back of the door to his kitchen. That cook was Colonel Harland Sanders, of course, and now KFC is the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain, specializing in that same Original Recipe® along with Extra Crispy™ chicken, home-style sides and buttermilk biscuits. There are over 21,000 KFC outlets in more than 130 countries and territories around the world.

KFC Poland – one of the most popular branches of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation – has an objective to drive awareness of its new cheese menu through depending on online campaigns on the Facebook and Instagram platforms.

Key Results:

• 8-point lift in brand awareness
• 7-point lift in message association
• 17-point lift in ad recall

Campaign Creator:

On this front, KFC Poland has partnered with two digital marketing agencies that are OMD Media Direction and McCann World group.

First off, McCann Worldgroup, the world’s most creatively effective marketing services company, is dedicated to helping brands play a meaningful role in people’s lives. With over 20,000 employees in more than 100 countries. McCann Worldgroup is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG).

Coming to OMD Media Direction, OMD Worldwide is a global media communications agency. It is a subsidiary of Omnicom Group. It has also been acknowledged as Most Creative Media Agency by The Gunn Report for Media eleven consecutive times.

PROBLEM

The franchise KFC Poland needed to run out an effective campaign with one main goal that was to build awareness of KFC’s “Warming cheese" winter campaign, which was built to boost the brand’s cheese menu. In a short period of time, the company wanted to reach people living in urban areas and inform them of the new promotion.

SOLUTION

1. First off, KFC Poland decided to depend on its Facebook and Instagram ad campaign and targeted both of genders between the ages of 16–34 in Polish cities with KFC restaurants.
2. Then, the company dealt with the media agency OMD Media Direction and the creative agency McCann Worldgroup, in order to run out its campaign.
3. The two agencies took a set of effective steps to serve the company’s objective, which including:
   created short, high-impact videos.
   Produced a TV campaign that was optimized for mobile devices with help from the Facebook Creative Shop team.
   The footage was cut vertically, and extra animations were added to grab viewers’ attention.
4. KFC Poland also used a mix of placements across Facebook News Feed, Instagram feed and Messenger.
5. The Facebook and Instagram campaign primarily used reach and frequency buying.
6. This let KFC plan and buy its campaigns in advance, with predictable ad delivery and more control over frequency settings.
7. It was supplemented by auction buying, which offered more choice, efficiency and flexibility, with less predictable results.
8. To measure the impact on brand metrics, KFC Poland also conducted a Facebook brand lift study with reported action. The study polled a randomised control group—who did not see the ads—and a group of people who did. The results allowed the company to understand key metrics, including ad recall, brand awareness and message association.
9. The Facebook and Instagram campaign formed part of KFC Poland’s wider “Warming Cheese” promotional drive.
10. Online video was used on both video-on-demand platforms and websites selected through contextual advertising (ads displayed based on keywords contained in a website). The campaign was also broadcast on TV in 15-second slots.

RESULT

The company’s Facebook and Instagram campaigns between January 8–March 1, 2018, managed to achieve best results, such as:

• 8-point lift in brand awareness of the “Warming Cheese” menu.
• 7-point lift in message association of KFC with the “Warming Cheese” menu, particularly amongst females and the 18–24 age group.
• 17-point lift in ad recall, especially with women and 18- to 34-year-olds.