KFC - The Recipe Run
KFC Spain needed to significantly boost brand engagement and web traffic among a younger, digitally savvy audience. They aimed to connect KFC with a relevant cultural phenomenon to generate widespread social media impressions and drive online orders, particularly among gamers excited about new releases.
Creative Idea
KFC turned its secret recipe into an in-game speedrun challenge within a popular video game.
KFC capitalized on an in-game Colonel Sanders lookalike and new fried chicken cooking feature in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. By challenging gamers to speedrun cooking KFC's recipe in-game, it tapped into gaming culture and demonstrated the brand's fun, iconic recipe, generating massive organic engagement.
The Secret Recipe Speedrun That Hijacked Hyrule
A 145 Million Impression Glitch
The campaign achieved massive organic reach by tapping into the speedrunning subculture, generating 145 million social media impressions and over 100 hours of user-created content. The tactical shift was reflected in the data: web traffic surged by 58% during the event, and desktop orders skyrocketed to 44.5% of total sales - a significant jump from the brand's 12% average. By the end of the first week, over 2,500 participants had attempted the run, with the hashtag #TheRecipeRun accounting for 27% of all brand conversations.
Validating the Virtual Colonel
To ensure the competition met professional gaming standards, agency PS21 partnered with SRE (@SpeedrunEspanol). This community partnership was vital for validating runs, ensuring players started with "clean" save files and followed strict rules. While the game lacked the exact 11 secret herbs and spices, players were permitted to substitute any 11 in-game plants or mushrooms that resembled spices. The production relied on "Brand Hijacking" - utilizing existing game mechanics and the organic discovery of an NPC named Gomo, who happened to look exactly like Colonel Sanders, rather than investing in expensive custom software.
The Eleven Thousand Euro Thigh
The ultimate prize was a physical gold trophy shaped like a chicken thigh, valued at €11,000. Although the campaign was a local initiative for KFC Spain, the borderless nature of gaming culture led to participation from 17 countries. Ultimately, a French speedrunner named Keuss claimed the top spot with a record-breaking time of 1:07.800. As Kerman Romeo, Head of Marketing at KFC Spain, noted, the goal was to become part of the game's narrative rather than just placing an advertisement.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
KFC possessed an iconic, globally recognized fried chicken recipe and a distinct brand persona with Colonel Sanders.
Category
Fast-food brands typically rely on traditional advertising or direct product promotions, rarely integrating deeply into specific gaming cultures.
Customer
Gamers were excited about the new Zelda game and delighted by unexpected in-game coincidences, eager to share discoveries and challenges.
Culture
The launch of a highly anticipated game, combined with the rise of speedrunning and user-generated content, created a perfect engagement opportunity.
Company
KFC possessed an iconic, globally recognized fried chicken recipe and a distinct brand persona with Colonel Sanders.
Category
Fast-food brands typically rely on traditional advertising or direct product promotions, rarely integrating deeply into specific gaming cultures.
Strategy:
Leverage emergent cultural phenomena within popular entertainment to create interactive brand experiences.
Customer
Gamers were excited about the new Zelda game and delighted by unexpected in-game coincidences, eager to share discoveries and challenges.
Culture
The launch of a highly anticipated game, combined with the rise of speedrunning and user-generated content, created a perfect engagement opportunity.
Strategy:
Leverage emergent cultural phenomena within popular entertainment to create interactive brand experiences.
Results
The contest became popular among gamers from 17 different countries. It even broke into the most prestigious speedrunning event in the world as a new format.
17
countries participated
most prestigious
speedrunning event integration
Strategy Technique
Borrow Equity
KFC leveraged the massive cultural relevance of the newly released Zelda game, its in-game Colonel lookalike, and new cooking mechanics. This allowed the brand to organically integrate into gaming culture and generate widespread engagement.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Gamification
KFC turned its iconic recipe into an interactive in-game speedrun challenge within Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This leveraged existing game mechanics and the speedrunning community, making the brand's recipe "fun to be played."
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in its ingenious integration of a real-world brand into the mechanics and lore of a highly anticipated video game, creating an organic and engaging experience for gamers.
The campaign seamlessly integrated KFC's brand into the gameplay mechanics and visual world of a major video game, creating an authentic and interactive experience.
It transformed a digital discovery into a tangible, rewarding experience by delivering real fried chicken to players who completed the in-game challenge.
The campaign successfully leveraged and amplified an existing organic discovery within the gaming community, turning it into a widespread, participatory event.
The visual resemblance of the Goron character to Colonel Sanders and the in-game fried chicken item were cleverly aligned with the brand, enhancing the campaign's authenticity within the game's aesthetic.
The magic of this campaign comes from the perfect synergy between digital craft, which enabled the brand's integration into the game, and community engagement, which amplified the organic discovery into a global phenomenon.
