Will KFC’s Out-of-Chicken PR Campaign Be Better Off Using Video?
What happens when a chicken restaurant ran out of chicken?
KFC in UK & Ireland is apparently undergoing a chicken shortage crisis, which has led to massive anger among consumers as well as the close of many of its U.K. restaurants. In response to this ongoing crisis, KFC and Mother London created a “FCK” apology ad running full page in two U.K. papers over the weekend.
(Credit: Mother London)
The ad immediately caught attention of the general public and generated significant amount of social buzz. With sincere apology and clear verification and explanation of the current situation, KFC not only won the heart of its customer back, but also turned the PR crisis into a perfect pitch.
As part of the crisis management campaign, KFC UK & Ireland also updated on its twitter account with 4 impactful posters addressing consumers’ concerns, receiving hundreds of likes and reposts. Ostensibly, the posters are answering the questions of the consumers, but what they are truly accomplishing is great brand building by underlining the corporate’s persistent pursuit of high quality as well as the proactive attitude in responding customers’ inquiries.
(Credit: KFC U.K & Ireland)
While traditional and digital media have been included in this campaign, the format of their content has focused on posters or photos. Although the campaign itself has already achieved some level of success, what if videos were involved? Will the scope of social buzz or attention be extended?
Video has been widely used in different campaigns by brands. The term “viral video” is even invented to describe the massive reach that certain video content is able to achieve within short period of time. Video, as a very interactive format compare to others, generally expresses ideas in a more straightforward and comprehensive way, it minimizes level of misunderstandings or misinterpretation that text or image involves. Unlike other formats where viewers have to actively read or digest, video pushes the content to viewers and requires little effort to consume.
Regarding the KFC PR campaign, even though the poster ads are successful and impactful, they are all text-intensive. With a normal reading speed, it takes more 10 seconds to finish reading just one poster. But the truth is we usually lose people’s attention in 3 to 7 seconds. Given the static format, the attention span might be even shorter. With video, however, it is relatively easier to keep viewer’s attention especially if it captures audience’s interest at the beginning.
In fact, a video recorded by a random user was picked and reposted by KFC UK & Ireland twitter account. It shows a customer complaining about the chicken shortage issue of KFC. She was extremely upset because she had to go to Burger King instead. This is a 12-second video, but it was presented in such a humorous, interactive yet authentic way that has led to over 4,200 likes and 1,100 reposts. This retweet is actually one of the most engaging posts the account ever had (in terms of number of likes, comments, etc.). Imagine if KFC had taken advantage of this PR crisis, and actually collected similar funny videos around all areas in U.K and created a video. The circulation and attention would be dramatically upscaled. After all, who doesn’t enjoy funny video at the end of a day?
Brands do not receive massive attention and social buzz on a daily bases, when the chance comes, how to catch the opportunity and maximize brand exposure is not an easy task. In KFC’s situation, creating a video might be challenging since this event happened almost overnight, posters/images seemed to be an easier solution from a timing perspective. But as a recap, such video content maybe an ideal option for continued buzz generator.