KFC are changing their globally recognised red and white corporate colours (which also happen to be the English flag colours) to the green and gold of the Aussie cricket team to leverage this summer’s Ashes series and support its Cricket Australia sponsors.
Developed with agency Ogilvy Sydney, this is another example of sponsorship activation that aims to ignite national pride and support the national team,
The green and gold rebrand is running across the exterior and interior decor of five flagship fast food restaurants, while it will also see an additional 600 outlets across Australia participate by rebranding 25,000 staff uniforms and more than 300,000 chicken buckets.
The colour code rebrand was kicked off with a launch event that saw stars of the Australian cricket team George Bailey and Chris Rogers take on English cricket legends Graham Gooch and Sam Billings in the drive-thru at the KFC Clayfield Qld restaurant.
TV work spearheads the advertising phase of the initiative with eight TVCs airing on Channel 9 and Channel 10.
Further elements of the activation include in-stadium green and gold KFC billboards, PR work, media partnerships, experiential initiatives and social media work.
The green and gold colour scheme also extends across KFC Australia’s Facebook page, and its Twitter feed.
While social activity (and an online competition) being driven through the campaign hashtag #Bucketheads
On the experience side of the campaign, the brand will launch a Green & Gold SkyBox at the Ashes – a KFC restaurant lifting diners high above the Sydney Cricket Ground to offer a totally fresh and new perspective on the test action.
This Green & Gold SkyBox will take ‘flight’ 20 times during the first two days of the Syndey test and this campaign strand, which will give cricket fans the chance to experience the Ashes from a new perspective, can be won by cricket fans and KFC consumers who enter the competition either at www.skyboxpromo.com.au and entering details available in News Corp publications from 25 November to 15 December.
‘The Ashes ignites a fierce rivalry between England and Australia,’ says KFC chief marketing officer Valerie Kubizniak.
‘We have thousands of Barmy Army fans descending on our shores for the second time this year, and as a proud and long-standing partner of Australian cricket we wanted to create a campaign that would ignite national pride and celebrate this great occasion.’
’We’re thrilled to have KFC continue its partnership with Cricket Australia this season and we’re excited to see the launch of its Green & Gold campaign, which will no doubt further stimulate an energetic rivalry between Aussies and the Barmy Army, as well as encourage fan engagement crucial to cricket’s future success in Australia,’ comments Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland.
Comment
This strategy seems simple and straightforward in approach, but most marketers know that persuading the bosses at global HQ to agree to changing a brand’s globally consistent and internationally recognised corporate colours is often far more complicated than its seems.
With fast food fried chicken in the national team colours, perhaps some Australian cricket fans will show their support for the test team by turning off their Barbies this summer and eating out at KFC.
During the next Ashes series in England might we even end up with green and gold brands like BP, Subway or Harrods rebranding red and white to support the home team?
As for the Green & Gold Skybox, we haven’t seen such a fresh take on a unique live cricket, in-stadium viewing experience since the Red Stripe Swimming Pool Stand.
Links
KFC Australia Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/KFCAustralia
KFC Australia Twitter
https://twitter.com/KFCAustralia
Campaign Hashtag
#Bucketheads
Cricket Australia Website
