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Drumbeats of

Red encouragement

Use the iconic KFC bucket as the drum to cheer for Team China during the Olympics Games.

Challenge

Over the past few years, KFC has aimed to enhance a young and energetic brand image in China to drive business success. We realized that young Chinese consumers have great national pride due to the rapid development of China. Therefore the Olympics Games in Rio were a great opportunity for KFC to stand alongside the young people to cheer for Team China, even though it was not an official sponsor.

 

The objectives of this campaign were not only to generate a buzz on social media during the Olympics Games to promote its seasonal products, but also to create great brand experiences that can bond with young consumers emotionally.

 

The key challenge is to find a way for KFC, a Western brand, to be a part of this national proud moment to bond with young consumers during this emotional and passionate time, and to lead this to an increase in sales.

The Idea

The idea came from two things: The first is the drum beat. In ancient China, drum beats had always been a symbol that motivated the armies. Then the drum beats became a way of cheering in festivals and competitions in Chinese culture. The second is the color red, a symbol of China which happened to be KFC’s brand color.

 

Hence, we came up with the idea of rallying young consumers to use the red KFC buckets as drums to cheer for Team China.

 

We first did an experiment to make sure that the KFC buckets can be used as drums and they worked very well. We then redesigned the bucket with traditional Chinese cultural elements to create KFC Drum Bucket as the center of this campaign. Then we invited a famous musician to create a theme song to demonstrate the qualities of China and inspire consumers to participate.  

Swimming Bucket

Ping-Pong Bucket

Gymnastics Bucket

Red Encouragement Song: The Collision of Western Rock and Chinese Opera

Social Engagement on WeChat

We launched an interactive video on WeChat, the largest social platform, to demonstrate how to use the “KFC Bucket Drum”. The video seemed like her post was interacting with other posts in the feed.

Then a young Chinese rock star, Tan Wei-wei performed the song “Red Encouragement”, a rock music reinterpretation of a song from a 300 year old Hua-yin opera. The collision of Western Rock and Chinese Opera made the song truly powerful. The MV, which also served as the TV commercial, was released on all the major online music platforms as well as during an offline concert. 

Both brand ambassadors released short videos on the largest UGC video platform “Miao-pai” to rally consumers to participate in the relay. We then released an HTML5 game on social media platforms for consumers to hit the drum in time to the music and accumulate beats.

Branded Music Video

Results

Ground Event- Echo Music Festival

Drumbeats of Red Encouragement- Case study

KFC “Red Encouragement” created a tremendous social media buzz during the Olympics Games. Many celebrities voluntarily joined the relay hence it created a tremendous social media buzz, which led to an excellent sales performance.

  • 114 million views of call-for-action video and 3 million views of her interactive video

  • 16 million plays of the MV by Tan Wei-wei and 1.55 million views of her call-for-action video in 8 days

  • 10.4 million participations of HTML 5 game and 55 million drum beats were made in 20 days.

  • 500 million social media exposure of the social posting # Red Encouragement#

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