THE CHALLENGE

Hong Kong is the number 1 most stressed city in East Asia and one of the most stressed cities in the world. And one of the main triggers of stress amongst our core demographic of 15-40 year-olds is overthinking. People overthink anything and everything, from big life decisions, to what to have for lunch.  

However, scientific studies prove that comfort food reduces stress. And as the leader of fried chicken in Hong Kong, KFC is the ultimate original comfort food. Thus, KFC has the secret recipe to momentarily ease their overthinking and the stresses of everyday life. 

THE STRATEGY

We wanted to amplify this compelling reason and opportunity for Hong Kongers to get stuck into their favorite comfort food, KFC, more often. But not only did we want to communicate this new insightful message of “Don’t Overthink, Just Indulge”, we put our fried chicken where our mouth is and created a tech device, called The Brainwave Bucket, an activation which leveraged modern technology to prove to people that KFC really can soothe their mind. And in doing so, created a compelling story for people and news outlets to identify with, engage with and share. 

THE EXECUTION

The Brainwave Bucket combined modern brain activity tracking technology with KFC’s most famous retail asset, the bucket, creating a unique and ridiculous brain tracking device to get people talking. And then we turned it into an activation where people were challenged to sit in a large bucket designed enclosure, try on the device and experience the mind-comforting effects of our tasty fried chicken. 

We introduced people to the activation and experience – promoting it via social, media publication and in-store posters. The activation was installed at KFC Hong Kong’s flagship store, where both journalists and customers were welcomed to try. 

THE OUTCOME

The campaign worked as intended and along with widespread coverage, we saw tangible increase in sales and footfall to stores around the same period.  The results we saw were… 

Sales Increases: 

• Flagship Store sales increase of +17.1% (vs the previous month) 
• Flagship Store transaction (ticket count) increase of +11.68% (vs the previous month) 

Media Coverage: 

• 213 news outlets wrote and shared articles about the Brainwave Bucket 
• 100% of articles delivered a positive sentiment 
• 100% of articles articulated and amplified our key message