KFC |  #CHICKENCRISIS

When KFC’s "#ChickenCrisis" became international news in February 2018, after the almost total collapse of its UK operations, customers were left with a very bitter taste. 

PROBLEM | KFC and DHL promised collectively to "revolutionize" the UK food-service supply chain with an unprecedented focus on "innovation, quality and reliability". Yet, within weeks of taking over delivery management, DHL struggled to quickly fill orders to KFC franchisees across the UK. Restaurants were running out of key ingredients, including chicken, and 900 stores had to close. It became a PR nightmare with 53,000 mentions of KFC running out of chicken, alongside hashtags such as "#ChickenCrisis" and "KFCCrisis".

INSIGHT | Nearly three-quarters (71%) of the UK population visits KFC at least once a year, and a quarter (24%) eats in its outlets on a weekly or monthly basis. With the scale of its audience so vast, it required an efficient solution to reach them in one hit.

SOLUTION | An apology newspaper ad rearranging the letters of its name to spell out "FCK" on a chicken bucket - instead of shying away from the issue, KFC leaned in with self-effacing humor.

RESULTS | 700+ press articles and TV discussions, 219 million social-media hits and shares, a total earned media reach of more than one billion. Won every award you can think of. Rewrote the manual for corporate crisis management. All from a single press ad.