Social Videos for KFC

Despite having 23 store across Myanmar, KFC was faced with an identity crisis. Their brand image was not consistent throughout the market and previous efforts to launch promotions for spicy chicken varieties proved unsuccessful. Our client was tasked with developing a campaign to reinvigorate the brand and launch a new flavor appealing to local tastes, called Mala Chicken. The goal was to target a younger audience with fun and engaging videos crafted for social media. KFC had previously launched a failed KPop campaign so part of the challenge for our production company was to create video content that follows a fresh visual approach and appeals to a wide audience.

Let’s do the Chicken Dance!

Our client decided to build excitement by pairing a catchy jingle with some simple, choreographed dance moves, featuring fried chicken enthusiasts grooving to a unique chicken dance. The casting was critical to the storytelling. Actors had to look like average people and represent a broad cross-section of society. In the end, we avoided professional actors to maintain authenticity and selected a diverse cast of over 20 people of all ages. Under the guidance of our director, they performed in unison as the locations flashed between an office, a clinic, two street scenes and the KFC store.

Format for your Audience

Traditionally, TV commercials and videos have followed a horizontal, landscape format. Now that the majority of advertising viewing has shifted to mobile, especially in Myanmar, our filmmaking approach must adjust as well. While all smartphones can accommodate landscape orientation viewing, most users won’t turn their phones sideways. This means we have to create content that is either square or horizontal for maximum viewing area. These adjustments have to be considered during production so our director of photography can frame up his shots appropriately for post-production. We also saw this as an opportunity to introduce image layering, combining graphic elements with video to build excitement.

Animations

To make the video more playful and engaging, we added a series of animated overlays in post-production. The animations begin as a series of carefully placed, white graphic accents, gyrating to the beat of dancer’s moves. As the video progresses, the colors shift towards red, paralleling the heat from the spicy chicken. The animations become increasingly vibrant and prominent, with balls of fire and chillies raining down over the dancers. The video campaign proved very successful and quickly went viral. Check out our video and see if you want to join the chicken dance!