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Category
Stunts & Activations
Annual ID
OS_SM21_029B
About the Work
Hands up if you’ve ever downloaded a mobile app just to claim a freebie, but had no intention of ever actually buying anything? It’s OK, we’ve all been there.
This is an awesome deal for customers – but it sucks for the brands spending heaps of money to bribe app users who’ll probably never buy anything.
KFC needed a better, more cost-effective, way to attract new app users. So we turned to our frontline staff. See, we’d discovered that they loved hacking the official menu to make all kinds of epic, Instagrammable creations– exactly the sort of thing customers love sharing on social media.
So, we took these crazy creations and hid them in a Secret Menu, buried deep within the KFC App. Then told no one about it. We didn’t do any advertising, because ads suck, right? We just waited.
And waited.
Until one day, an excited customer cracked the code. She’d discovered that if you hold down on the App order screen for 11 seconds (like the secret herbs and spices, get it?), the Secret Menu would appear.
She shared the news with her friends on social media. Who then shared it with their friends. And so on. You get the idea. Everyone was downloading the KFC App to try it for themselves. The media even picked up the story, so that the KFC App was on front pages and newsfeeds all across Australia.
And it worked! Not only did our app download rates skyrocket (by 111%), sales were up too. In fact, Secret Menu users spent 77% more money, and were 17% less likely to uninstall the app.
Best of all? We did it without spending anything on annoying ads. We let our fans do the talking for us on social media. Now that’s a win-win.
This is an awesome deal for customers – but it sucks for the brands spending heaps of money to bribe app users who’ll probably never buy anything.
KFC needed a better, more cost-effective, way to attract new app users. So we turned to our frontline staff. See, we’d discovered that they loved hacking the official menu to make all kinds of epic, Instagrammable creations– exactly the sort of thing customers love sharing on social media.
So, we took these crazy creations and hid them in a Secret Menu, buried deep within the KFC App. Then told no one about it. We didn’t do any advertising, because ads suck, right? We just waited.
And waited.
Until one day, an excited customer cracked the code. She’d discovered that if you hold down on the App order screen for 11 seconds (like the secret herbs and spices, get it?), the Secret Menu would appear.
She shared the news with her friends on social media. Who then shared it with their friends. And so on. You get the idea. Everyone was downloading the KFC App to try it for themselves. The media even picked up the story, so that the KFC App was on front pages and newsfeeds all across Australia.
And it worked! Not only did our app download rates skyrocket (by 111%), sales were up too. In fact, Secret Menu users spent 77% more money, and were 17% less likely to uninstall the app.
Best of all? We did it without spending anything on annoying ads. We let our fans do the talking for us on social media. Now that’s a win-win.
2021 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Pencil
Credits
Agency
Ogilvy Australia / Sydney
PR / Marketing Agency
Ogilvy PR / Sydney
Client / Brand
KFC Australia
Art Director
Ash Myburgh
Chief Marketing Officer
Kristi Woolrych
Chief Technology Officer
Chris Phee Chong
Executive Creative Director
Gavin McLeod
Group Creative Director
Shaun Branagan
Writer
Wilson Kwong
Head of Strategy
Ryan O'Connell
Senior Digital Strategist
John Harding-Eason
Account Director
Taylor York
Account Executive
Tom Fogarty
Account Manager
Jordana Smith
Associate Director
James Curtis
Brand Manager
Olajoke Amosun
Steven Jin
Digital Marketing Director
Mike Forster
Digital Project Director
Gareth Morgan
Executive Business Director
Leigh Bignell
Group Account Director
Cassie Poiner
Senior Account Director
Mireille Pons
Senior Account Manager
Sophie McIntosh
Senior Creative
Stephen Maher
Senior Digital Account Manager
Emilie Ammann
Senior Digital Project Manager
Jonathon Pedreira
Technical Director
Dan Adijans
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