Title | IT MAKES SENSE |
Brand | PEPSICO |
Product/Service | WALKERS 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
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