Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2022 | |

Turning the national frown upside down with KFC Bucket Semangat Rakyat

Advertiser: QSR Stores
Brand: KFC
Creative Agency: Reprise Digital
Credits: Rina Low - Universal McCann, Managing Director Clarice Lee - Universal McCann, Business Director Lum Lai Kuan - Universal McCann, Senior Media Manager Ooi Jee Hoe - Universal McCann, Senior Planner Lynette Lim - Reprise Digital, Business Director Zima Azmi - Reprise Digital, Account Manager Yee Ling Feng - Reprise Digital, Social Media Specialist RZ Chew - Naga DDB, Senior Account Director Brian Khoo - Naga DDB, Associate Account Director Dalina Annuar - Naga DDB, Manager

Objective & Challenge
KFC has always been a brand close to the Malaysian community, helping millions of Malaysians enjoy countless wonderful moments as one of the leading QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) brands in the country. Spreading joy and positivity within the community is one of the brand’s key missions. However, in 2021, KFC witnessed challenges at dual levels… THE NEGATIVITY OF A NATION Over a year of lockdowns, COVIDrelated deaths and illnesses and a nationwide recession left the economy and its people reeling. Malaysians were suffering under a palpable sense of gloom and negativity. This was not the community we knew and loved. THE NEGATIVITY FOR A BRAND Even though KFC has always been a brand that tries to cater to the audience’s wishes, it was going through a particularly difficult time. Negativity, fuelled by the overall negative sentiments in the country, was pouring out towards the brand as well. The brand was dealing with considerable complaints at a service and quality level. Dealing with public complaints tends to be an ongoing reality for a consumerfacing brand, but in 2021, the negativity was quite serious. These two were linked. We knew we had to do something to not only solve the negativity around our brand – but overcome the overall negativity in Malaysia. We weren’t only looking to make a nation like our brand more. We were looking to inject positivity into a community we loved and make our nation hopeful again. Our challenge: Make the champions of taste be the harbinger of hope & get a QSR chain to turn a national frown upside down.

Insight & Strategy
Our cultural insights were clear… Malaysia isn’t just a country, but a community. Malaysians are famous for lifting each other up in dark times. A community of ‘Kita Jaga Kita’ (we take care of each other). We realized that we were living through one of the darkest periods in recent history – but Malaysians were helping each other in masses, both online and offline. Neighbours were feeding each other. The neighbourhood youth were doing grocery shopping for older people. Consumers were urging each other to support small businesses. The government was offering incentives and recovery packages. Our Strategy: Make people our pillars of positivity – and use the community to crowdsource positivity! Our big idea: To turn KFC Buckets into buckets of Hope! Introducing the KFC Bucket Semangat Rakyat! A special edition of KFC buckets inspired by words of encouragement (“Katakata Semangat”) to carry hope from Malaysians to Malaysians. We rallied Malaysians to spread words of positivity when it was needed the most, making KFC not the end, but a means to the end of what we wanted to achieve. In a never been done before initiative, we recruited local artists to illustrate and interpret these messages and launched 3 limited edition versions of “KFC Bucket Semangat Rakyat” – truly by the rakyat for the rakyat. That’s why the Merdeka window became our window of opportunity. This was our tribute to the Semangat Rakyat: the spirit of the Malaysian people.

Execution
STEP 1: CROWDSOURCING HOPE We launched with videos on Facebook and Instagram, inspiring Malaysians to share their ‘KataKata Semangat’ (words of encouragement). We received hundreds of positive comments. We then used those comments to further inspire people to share more messages of hope. STEP 2: USING LOCAL ARTISTS TO CONVERT WORDS INTO ART After the rakyat responded with their messages, we collaborated with 3 local artists, @Katun (FB) / @katun_ (IG), @Nas Suha (FB) + @nassuha_(IG) + @abdulrashade (FB + IG). Taking inspiration from the rakyat’s ‘KataKata Semangat’, each of them translated the words of hope into artistic interpretations. These interpretations were then printed onto the iconic KFC buckets. STEP 3: THE AUCTION THAT CONVERTED HOPE INTO MONEY We auctioned off the buckets on Facebook and raised funds to help fellow Malaysians under KFC’s CSR Add Hope programme. 3 lucky Malaysians are now the proud owners of KFC buckets that’s unlike any other in the world. STEP 4: AMPLIFYING THE ACT BEYOND THE BUCKETS We ended the campaign with a compilation video of all the ‘KataKata Semangat’ and footage of the artists creating these buckets as a form of appreciation. A truly distinct and differentiated Merdeka video, with messages of hope and encouragement in 2021 to all Malaysians from Malaysians. This was our way to show Malaysians that optimism hasn’t really faded. Not just empty words, but actual physical symbols of hope. Give them that faith, that reminder to be optimistic. And in all this our product, was for once NOT the end but the MEANS to the end.

Effectiveness
Our crusade to turn a national frown upside down went beyond our expectations! We surpassed expectations in flipping the sentiments for KFC to 17.8% positive comments, an uplift of 137% prior to this campaign! As a bonus outcome, we noted the positive impact amongst the youth segment across brand indicators as an outcome of our KFC Bucket Semangat campaign. Change in Brand Imagery (Q3’21 vs. Q2’21) Brand I Trust +4pts For People Like Me +4pts Brand that Gives Back to the Community +6pts It’s my Favourite Restaurant Brand +10pts An Innovative Brand +6pts Source: KFC Brand Health Tracker To top it all off, the biggest impact was seen in a significant uplift in sales with a growth of 17.7% in sales and 19.6% more transactions post campaign launch. (source: KFC Internal Sales Data)