This Way Up: commercial of the year!

KFC has often come up with well-crafted commercials that don’t follow a formula but are always interesting. It wasn’t that long ago that they featured Colonel Sanders as some sort of mafia boss driving around in a big shiny car, his face hidden, KFC stores reflected in the exterior of the vehicles. This year, however, they outdid themselves with “Believe in Chicken,” an ad that made people laugh out loud, always a feat. Like the best commercials, it’s simple, effective and memorable. I know it’s only August, but this could be the ad of the year!

The story is based on the seemingly endless piles of bad news and difficult scenarios that we seem to have experienced recently. The difference for us of course is that everything is amplified by social media. In a city centre laundromat we see snippets of news bulletins about the troubled world, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence. One of them suggests that there have been allegations that the minister for AI is not real! A repetitive, thumping dance beat, with both techno and Gregorian chants, begins and grows louder as we see more and more people abandoning their activities, even pulling over vehicles, and moving to this music in a dance that looks like a cross between a chicken and a zombie. They are believers who have put their faith in chicken!

It’s a bit like a flash mob as these groups of people march through a city centre, all heading towards one destination. Even parked vehicles join in the movement. They are all drawn to a large square surrounded by impressive public buildings, where they surround a dancing chicken. As the music intensifies, the dancing rooster is lifted up onto his podium for all to see before the words BELIEVE IN CHICKEN appear in bold red letters. It’s like a movie trailer and actually works best in a cinema, where the sound system picks up the depth of the beat much better than when you’re watching it on a TV or laptop.

The advert was created by one of the country’s leading advertising agencies, the Mother Agency, and is central to a wider campaign that is said to be the biggest KFC has ever launched. In the weeks leading up to the advert’s debut, several teaser posters in a striking red and black palette were displayed on vehicles and billboards that boldly omitted the KFC logo to appear more enigmatic. They had an almost political tone, except for the food references, so they carried slogans such as ‘Lost All Faith’ or ‘Trust in Herbs, Trust in Spices’. Another stunt involved drawing a two-hundred-and-sixty-foot chicken in a field beneath the main flight path to Gatwick Airport, which could be seen by landing planes. The advert itself officially debuted on 14 June during the European Championship football tournament.

The advert itself was directed by Vedran Rupic, with Paris-based Sven Lesoria choreographing the strange dance and John Connon providing the music. Rupic said: “It’s bold, clear and simple. The viewer should feel like they want to move after watching this.” The movement was choreographed to build tension along with the soundtrack. The dancers’ movements are designed to mimic the specific way poultry walk, so there are head nods and when they take a step forward with one leg and then follow with a smaller step, creating a walk that, when done by humans, looks like they’re staggering rather than walking. At one point, a woman’s head appears to peck at a TV screen, as a chicken would. The dancing chicken itself is not a real bird; instead, an animatronic version was used. The signature music is called `Versi` and was created by Vedran, Albin Lindberg and Martin Permer. It has not yet been released to the public, perhaps because it is more of a vibe than a melody.

There’s certainly ambition behind what seems like a frivolous idea. KFC’s Monica Pool is said to have expressed hope that it will help the company become one of the UK’s most iconic brands, with a particular target audience of younger people. The video certainly has TikTok appeal and is a world away from the Colonel’s US-centric Deep South imagery.

The campaign also introduces a new font, amusingly called Original Recipe, which KFC will be using going forward. The font is said to be variable, meaning that the letters can be typed randomly and will look slightly different every time they are typed. In their amusing official statement about the ad campaign, KFC says: “This crazy world we live in is an unreliable place. Disappointment follows you everywhere you look. The weather, your partner, your job, your team, your ability to get a seat on a train, the fact that chip bags are half full. What can we believe in? Don’t lose hope. There’s still something to trust. Something to believe in. Chicken. It’s always good. Always there. And always there. Believe. In. Chicken.” I wonder what the Colonel thinks of this?

View the advertisement https://youtu.be/UrfQaMAH0Ss?si=MRTi2rH0V7qguvYj