CHAHIL BAPNA

B011

KFC -INTRODUCTION
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a fast-food restaurant chain. The headquarters of kfc is
located in Louisville, Kentucky, in U.S. The company is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, that also
owns the Pizza Hut. The founder was Harland Sanders. It is in the world’s largest restaurant
chain (as measured by sales) with more than 25000 outlets in 118 countries and territories.
KFC was one of the first fast food chains to expand internationally. In the mid of 1960s, KFC
opened outlets in Canada, the U.K, Mexico and Jamaica. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s,
KFC went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in
the restaurant business.

KFC CHICKEN’S CRISIS

The story began on Valentine’s Day, In Feb 2018, when KFC switched over to new
distribution partner DHL to "improve the efficiency and performance of supply chain" to its
900-plus restaurants in the UK and Ireland. It’s fair to say the change didn’t get off to a great
start. KFC encountered a potentially disastrous dilemma when a chicken shortage forced
the restaurant chain to close stores across the UK. Social and mainstream media enjoyed
the irony of a chicken shop without any chicken and went to town on the story. The closures
ruffled feathers to say the least. A major logistical disruption led to a nationwide shortfall of
chicken and the subsequent closure of all KFC’s UK restaurants. This wasn’t a mere
corporate comms disaster, but a "full-blown operational crisis" that provided a baying press
with a seemingly endless gravy train of chicken puns, succulent headlines and crossing-the-
road jokes. At the peak of the crisis, 750 KFC restaurants temporarily shut doors, affecting
19,000 staff. Staff pay, food wastage, unions and inquisitive MPs were just some of the
comms problems, KFC had to deal with. Perhaps some of the hardest were angry customers.
Closed restaurants angered customers, especially those who travelled out of their way.
Some desperate customers resorted to calling the police. Many restaurants started to
reopen although with limited menus and hours

RESPONSE BY KFC

The key lesson KFC learnt is the importance to "remain true to its brand voice". KFC
positioned itself in a self-deprecating and human way - admitting it screwed up and taking a
light-hearted dig at itself. KFC tackled the issue head-on and made no attempt to deflect
blame onto anyone else, even though there was an obvious scapegoat. They just put up
there hand and said this is a massive cock-up, and that gave them huge credibility and won
the goodwill among the media and there customers," An important part of KFC’s crisis
comms approach was using social media as a channel for proactive communications. This
allowed the brand to deal with the concerns of consumers and the media effectively and,
importantly, to wrest back a perception of control over a situation it had no control over.
The most powerful thing about this is that it enabled them to take back control. KFC
responded with full-page newspaper advertisements that showed a chicken bucket with its
KFC label changed to “FCK.” Those who wonder what that stands for can consider adding a
vowel. A brief apology followed the straightforward headline “We’re Sorry.”

The FCK bucket

The goodwill KFC built from its social media strategy provided it and agency partners with
the confidence and platform to launch a paid media campaign that introduced the world to
the FCK bucket. This brave apology campaign only ran in print, but quickly went viral on
social media and put a human face to that time KFC’s chickens literally got lost while trying
to find the road. “It gave KFC a way of saying sorry in a bold and human way, and in a way
that felt true to the brand. Basically, this is what they were all saying in the office all the
time – it also resonated with consumers and disarmed the issue a bit."

The ad reads : “A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal. Huge apologies to
our customers, especially those who traveled out of their way to find we were closed. An
endless thanks to our KFC team members and our franchise partners for working tirelessly
to improve the situation. It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re making progress, and every
day more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants. Thank you for
bearing with us.”

The response won praise from both customers and PR and marketing professionals in the
UK and US. KFC probably won more customers and increased brand awareness through the
incident.The ad was so effective that Steve Richardson, executive creative director of
creative agency Mr B & Friends, wonders if the chicken shortage might have been a
calculated PR stunt. It wouldn’t be the first time manipulative marketers made up a story to
promote sales. “Currently KFC is benefitting from a PR boom. The whole situation has
certainly got people talking and they’ve built on the confident brand personality,”
Richardson told the Bristol Post. “KFC came across as human and humorous, and the event
has probably increased brand awareness and won some new fans along the way.”