KFC in Australia recreated Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head with slurping sounds to promote its new drinks sub-brand, called Kwench.
The brand could hardly have picked a better track. In a 2016 study by Dr Kelly Jakubowski, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was the second most frequently named ‘earworm’ song — after Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance — in a survey of 3,000 people.
So, while many people may find the slurping crude and grating, the ad seems likely to score highly in terms of distinctiveness and memorability. The creative device also ensures that the product is front and centre throughout the ad, making it clear what is being promoted.
If there is anything unusual about the spot, it is that it doesn’t look much like a KFC ad. Except for the top and tail branding, the ad uses few of KFC’s distinctive assets, with no sign of Colonel Sanders, and instead puts the all-female dancers in front of a pastel-coloured backdrop. For a sub-brand that is intended to stand alone and bring in new buyers, however, it makes sense to depart from the logos and colour schemes of the master brand.
In a press statement, KFC marketing director Holly McCarthy said that the product line and campaign were created, in part, to ‘bring a new audience to KFC’, and given the aesthetics of the ad and the brand’s casting choices, this almost certainly means young women.
Youth-focused sub-brands are sometimes criticised for dividing marketing budgets and for distracting marketers from addressing perception issues with the master brand. But when they are created to cater to specific customer behaviours, rather than just age segments, they can be successful. Vodafone’s Voxi, a low-cost and flexible mobile network, is one example.
The It’s All You Can Drink About campaign was created by Special and launched in Australia on 3 November. It is running in cinemas, OOH, social and digital channels.
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