KFC: No longer “finger lickin’ good”?

The Innovation team at Instinctif harness the best of the future to deliver market-leading ideas in the present. The team’s specialism spans digital strategy and marketing, data & analytics, and strategic brand. With the world and news agenda fast-changing around us, now’s the time to get agile in how we think and work.

This newsletter brings you the best of the week in the ‘new normal’, straight from the desk of the Innovation team.

Fast food outlet KFC has become the latest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. However, its not the brand’s finances which are being stripped from the bone, but its 64-year-old slogan.

With its familiar ‘finger lickin’ good’ line feeling a little inappropriate in the context of heightened hygiene-observing, hand-washing and mask-wearing, the brand’s taking this moment to make its own public service announcement. Its new message? KFC is no longer finger lickin’ good.

With a global pandemic comes a global opportunity to communicate one uniform idea. And the fried food hawker does just that, in a campaign dreamed up by creative agency Mother. The concept, which runs across TV, media, social and digital, performs a volte-face on its established tagline.

In the newly launched YouTube video and posters, the slogan appeared pixelated, with accompanying text reading: “That thing we always say? Ignore it. For now.”

The move serves as a reminder of the need for brands to respond to the wider environment, to be prepared to break (even temporarily) with tradition in order to adapt to changing times.

But for any slogan stalwarts, any tagline traditionalists, there’s no need for rending of garments – the familiar phrase will be back once the pandemic has passed. And in the meantime, remember: lick your fingers at your own risk.

Watch the campaign video here.

Tool of the week

Contract-tracing apps. They’ve been the topic of much debate over recent months. And one of the points for discussion has been the sometimes-preclusionary need to download an app in order to be traced. Now, a new development from Apple and Google is seeking to remove this barrier.

At present, users who have downloaded an app made by a public health authority can opt in to a decentralised tracking system. Their phones record details of other devices they have been near, and if one of those users later marks themselves as infectious, exposed individuals receive a notification.

Apple and Google are working on a new version in which users will be able to join an ‘exposure notification system’ without needing to download any app at all. NB: It’s not a perfect fix, as users will still need to log in to an app to mark themselves as infectious.

At the moment this system will not work in countries where an authority has not released their own contact-tracking app. That means UK users are out of the equation – for now.

Top tool

This week’s tip comes from the South African team’s Senior Consultant, Keagile Makgoba.

A TikTok Turn-up!

While it may be doom and gloom at the Byte Dance Head Office, given the current challenges facing the Chinese social media platform, South Africans have certainly not let ‘poli-Tik’ (Toks) get in the way of creating content that is entertaining, fun and potentially lucrative for savvy content creators.

Using a popular music genre called “Amapiano” (electronic dance music that combines melodious piano tunes with drum and bass sounds) South Africans have found their niche on TikTok – the #Amapiano hashtag on TikTok has had over 73 million views on the platform and counting. Local artists have seen their songs top local music charts as a direct result of their popularity on the social media platform.

A South African artist who has recently become global sensation, Master KG, recently broke TikTok records with his hit song “Jerusalema” – inspiring people across the world to participate in a choreographed challenged titled #JerusalemaChallenge

In a recent SA Social Media Landscape Report, TikTok was ranked the second most downloaded app on the Android Play Store, no doubt a result of the ongoing nationwide lockdown. Scores of South Africans have found interesting ways to keep themselves entertained on the platform and in some cases have started monetising their content. The growth of this influencer trend has encouraged TikTok to create TikTok for Business.

The platform will give brands and businesses tools to connect with broader communities through creative storytelling – like ads; just more compact, creative and accessible. Marketing and advertising budgets may dwindle post-COVID-19, putting pressure on brands to get the most out of their marketing budgets.

TikTok might be the balance brands seek – authentic influencer content, that is accessible to millions of users across the globe. It seems like a winning formula, don’t you think?