2021 Brand Experience & Activation

IT MAKES SENSE

TitleIT MAKES SENSE
BrandPEPSICO
Product/ServiceWALKERS CRISPS X KFC
Category E02. Sponsorship & Brand Partnership
Entrant PEPSICO Reading, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation SIPS AND BITES Reading, UNITED KINGDOM
Production SOMESUCH London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Andrew Jordan Sips and Bites Creative lead
Alex King Sips and Bites creative lead
Matt Watson Sips and Bites Creative
Charlotte Whittall Sips and Bites production
Tom McMahon Sips and Bites Design
Paul Stafford Sips and Bites Client management
Nancy Croix Sips and Bites Creative
Katherine Cook PepsiCo Marketing
Fernando Kahane PepsiCo Marketing
Ben Crawley PepsiCo Marketing

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Our brand, Walkers MAX, is one of the most-loved crisp brands in the UK. But there’s always room to make your brand more successful – and for us, this meant partnering with one of the icons of the fast food world, KFC. The collaboration between Walkers MAX and KFC gave the UK something they’d longed for for years: KFC-flavoured crisps. And our activation sent lovers of crisps, and KFC, into a frenzy…

Background

KFC-flavoured Walkers MAX was the kind of product that people would naturally get excited about – but the brief required us to create a campaign worthy of such an iconic collaboration. We had to communicate the product in a disruptive, talkable way, balancing the creative and business interests of both brands in the process. As well as landing the two new flavours, we had to ensure the 2 for 1 KFC meal offer came through as well.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

In the UK, Leicester is the home of Walkers and where Gary Lineker was born who has advertised Walkers crisps for decades. He is very much the ambassador of the brand. We this partnership we wanted to highlight those strange things in life that, despite being obvious, and right under our noses, take us ages to spot. Gary Lineker looking similar to Colonel Sanders is one. And KFC-flavoured crisps is another.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The product itself felt like a bit of a cultural moment – and we wanted to mirror this with our campaign. Our strategy called for an idea that focused on the iconic-ness of this collaboration. If we could use recognisable brand assets, all the better. While the target audience was pretty much the whole population, we wanted to add a Gen-Z skew to reflect KFC’s key demographic, and take Walkers MAX to a more sophisticated, ‘cooler’ place.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Our hero film showed Gary Lineker, the ambassador of Walkers, on a journey which ends with him realising that he looks an awful lot like the face of KFC, Colonel Sanders. He just so happens to be eating KFC-flavoured Walkers at the time. Gary’s journey around the dark city streets takes him past a number of other KFC-meets-Walkers coincidences – a billboard being changed from one brand to the other, a pair of twins eating Walkers and KFC at the same time. The grand finale sees Gary Lineker stopping in front of a white suit in a shop window. We finally realise something that’s been under our nose for years – Gary Lineker looks just like Colonel Sanders. It makes perfect sense – just like KFC-flavoured crisps. We also ran a special build OOH billboard to tease the product launch.

List the results (30% of vote)

14 million completed views £13.1m of sales in first 7 months 540K on-pack KFC redemptions Sold out product nationwide