Agencies With Chicken On Their Menu
The steady growth of fast food chicken outlets continues unabated across the globe.
As consumption patterns and taste preferences evolve, the possibility of chicken becoming the meat of choice for a modern generation offers tantalising opportunities for the food franchise marketing and advertising communication industries, to meet the challenge of chicken ‘ruling the roost’ of rising consumer wants and desires.
Jollibee Chickenjoy, Online Stories
Jollibee is a Filipino multinational chain of popular fast food restaurants headquarterd in Pasig, Philippines.
Their remarkably emotive Valentine’s Day inspired a series of commercials that celebrates the twists and turns of love in all its forms.
In 2018, Jollibee became the only Philippine company to be honoured with several award accolades for their ‘Kuwentong’ (story) campaign that included a prestigious ‘Brand of the Year Gold Award’ at the APAC (Asia-Pacific) Effie Awards.
1. Jollibee Chickenjoy, Vow
Advertising Agency: McCann Worldgroup, Philippines
Directed by Ianco dela Cruz, the ‘Vow’ story motivated online views that reached a staggering 13 million.
2. Jollibee Chickenjoy, Perfect Pair
Advertising Agency: McCann Worldgroup, Philippines
‘Perfect Pair’ is the sequel commercial to ‘Vow’, and once again the skillful direction of Ianco dela Cruz elicits a powerful and sensitive portrayal from his superb cast.
3. KFC Hot & Crispy, Feel The Heat
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy, Cape Town, South Africa
Robin Goode directed this entertaining story of KFC’s surprise introduction of a new ‘Hot and Crispy’ variation to their famous Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken menu that sparked Detective Duma’s mission, to discover where this sudden surge of ‘heat’ was coming from.
4. KFC Christmas, The Crossroads
Advertising Agency: Mother, London, UK
Roast turkey is the traditional Christmas meal offering in Britain but in truth it is not a great family favourite and secretly roast chicken would probably have been the preferred family choice.
As one of the posters in this integrated campaign insightfully reads: “The trick to enjoying Christmas turkey? Lowering your expectations”.
Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, the ‘Crossroads’ commercial is an amusing Western-style parody featuring the theme music from Ennio Morricone’s classic Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” as the soundtrack.
The two protagonists are of course, a chicken and a Christmas turkey and the winner of the face-off can probably be easily guessed.
As Hermeti Balarin, partner at Mother, reminds us : “There’s only one day of the year in which you can’t get your favorite fried chicken at KFC. And that’s the 25th of December. Chicken rules the roost on the other 364 days.”
5. McDonald’s Chicken Selects, Lift
Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, London, UK
Vince Squibb directed this amusing ‘fly on the wall’ witness to the interaction between two women stuck inside an elevator and their responses to a respite snack of ‘McDonald’s Chicken Selects’.
6. Burger King Chicken Fries, Death Road
Advertising Agency: Buzzman, Paris, France
This cinematic ‘Mad Max’ parody was directed by Christophe Deroo, for the online campaign launch of Burger Kings’ new, Chicken Fries.
The ‘Crispy Pretzel Chicken Fries’ are shaped like French Fries and seasoned with herbs and savoury spices.
7. Chicken Licken, Afronaut
Advertising Agency: Joe Public, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pete Pohorsky directed this very watchable, well-crafted and enacted commercial parody of a delivery order to outer space.
8. Nando’s Peri-Peri Chicken, Diversity
Advertising Agency: Black River Football Club (FC), Johannesburg, South Africa
Nando’s, the South African restaurant chain, specialising in Portuguese/ Mozambique peri-peri recipe chicken dishes, and operating in over 1,000 outlets in 35 countries, has always been in the forefront of topical South African spoofs and parodies that have become part of popular social culture.
One of their most controversial commercials was their 2012 ‘Diversity’ campaign that state-owned TV channels refused to run because of its xenophobic theme.
The ‘BBC Trending’ online website however, reported recently that ‘Nando’s Diversity’ xenophobia commercial, directed by Dean Blumberg of Bouffant Films, has become imminently topical again internationally.
On the ‘SA Creatives’ online network, Black River FC Copywriter Oarabile Mahole, was quoted as follows:
“Xenophobia is an ongoing theme in South Africa. Our basic message was that in a country with so many different types of people, surely diversity must be appreciated.”
“Our message of tolerance took it to the extreme, saying that technically, except for the Khoi San people, we are all foreigners in this country. If you enjoy diversity you will love the diversity of the Nando’s menu.”
9. Nando’s, Blue Light Brigade
Advertising Agency: Metropolitan Republic, Rivonia, Gauteng, South Africa
Brilliantly directed by Kim Geldenhuys who displays a deft talent for filmic comedy, this satirical take on the ‘blue light brigades’ that South Africa’s Government Ministers are so obsessed with to the huge annoyance of everyone else, was an instant hit.
The commercial rapidly reached 3.2 million views, became one of the most watched YouTube videos globally at the time, and the hashtag #NoBlueLights received over 8,000 participants.