How MullenLowe and KFC Are Bringing Back ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ Chicken

No matter where you are in the world, you can probably find fried chicken. Be it battered in potato starch, dusted with flour or dredged in spices and buttermilk, odds are it’s going to be the right kind of greasy, salty and utterly delicious. But when thinking about buying fried chicken, there’s one name that stands above the rest. And that name would be KFC. As the world’s second-largest restaurant chain, it’s more than likely that anyone from a major city has heard of the brand at some point in their life. 

Traditionally sporting the slogan ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’, KFC actually dropped its iconic phrase in 2020 due to the nature and severity of the pandemic. However, with covid-19 restrictions easing across the globe, the company felt like it was time to bring it back. Enter MullenLowe. The byproduct of KFC and MullenLowe’s first ever collaboration is the ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ campaign, which features four television spots directed by Allie Avital - with more to come in the future. 

MullenLowe Boston group creative director Enrique Camacho and account director Cameron Burnham, with KFC U.S. CMO Nick Chavez, spoke to LBB’s Josh Neufeldt about how they brought this campaign to life.

LBB> This is the first campaign under MullenLowe’s creative direction. What led to the collaboration?

Nick> We selected MullenLowe as our partner because it is an agency moving at the speed of culture and well-versed in 360-degree campaigns across full-funnel marketing channels. They understand the consumer, the consumer’s needs and how to shift consumer behaviour. With their insight and data-driven ideas, we’d found a partner that could elevate the brand from just ‘good’ to ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’.  

Enrique> We share a lot of similar thinking with KFC which makes it easy for us to start a strong collaborative relationship. One of the key things we align on is wanting to make an integrated campaign, and not just a traditional or social one. We have an amazing creative platform that allows the idea to transform based on the media and speaks to the consumer in different ways, without losing the main insight.

LBB> What is your relationship with KFC like? Is a campaign like this quite collaborative with the client?

Cameron> From pitch to production, our relationship with KFC only grew stronger. At the heart of it are our shared values of being disarmingly honest and open to different ideas. The collaborative process also highlighted our reciprocal commitment to craft. They pushed us to work faster and smarter, resulting in better work that we’re both proud of.

LBB> What key ideas were included in the brief? And what immediate ideas came from it?

Nick> Overall, we wanted the new campaign to set a new direction and standard for the brand. We wanted to see a shift from ‘good’ to ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ in every way; in every activation and every meal we serve. What we see in the category is all too often, customers settle for ‘Eh, it’s just good enough,’ or ‘It’s OK’ — but only KFC serves finger-lickin' good fried chicken. With this in mind, the one thing we were certain of — the food needed to be the star of the show.   

Enrique> Our brief was to make KFC relevant to a wider audience that encompasses the younger generations. In other words — how can we modernise KFC to appeal to millennials and gen Z. One of, if not the first creative platform we came to was ‘there’s good, and there’s finger lickin’ good’. We saw a lot of potential in the line and the many places we could take it, so we evolved it to make it bulletproof.

LBB> In 2020, KFC decided to suspend the ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ slogan due to the pandemic. What factors led to the choice to bring it back? 

Nick> We found ourselves in the unique position of having an iconic slogan that didn’t quite fit with the current environment, so we decided to press pause; however, that didn’t change the fact that our food is and has always been ‘finger-lickin’ good’, which played a role in its return to our marketing in the U.S. Now, we’re putting a new twist on the iconic tagline.   

Enrique> We really wanted to evolve the tagline from a product attribute to a life attitude. ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ is not only an action that you do because the food is so good — it’s bigger than that. When we say, “That’s ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’,” we’re saying it’s way better than good. We’re saying that we’re taking it to 11. We’re saying don’t settle for average.

LBB> How did you come up with the idea of using voice-overs to reflect how and why people enjoy KFC? And what was the writing process like for said voice-overs?

Enrique> It’s silly, but we uncovered the human insight that when you’re hungry and you love your food, you talk to the food. You have an internal conversation about how good the food is and how good the moment is going to be. Come on, who hasn’t talked to a good chicken sandwich?

LBB> What was the production process like?

Enrique> It was great. The first big project with a new client is often challenging, in a good way. Ensuring that all the food shown on camera looks good is crucial when making a food-related ad. It was also important to show the real feelings that people experience while enjoying it. On top of that, we wanted to add some humour and find a unique visual tone that felt on brand — modern but also aligned with the visual brand guidelines.

We loved the idea of working with an upcoming director who offered a fresh approach and helped us to establish a new tonality for the brand. 

LBB> What was the process of shooting with food like? 

Enrique> It’s interesting. The key component is to have a great food stylist who has a lot of prior experience with the brand. That, plus great collaboration with the DP was essential to making the food look amazing. And we fried every piece of chicken on set before it went to camera.

LBB> The actors in this ad really do a good job physically portraying their internal thoughts. What was casting like? And how did you work with the director during this process?

Enrique> It was a long casting session, and we were focused on casting real people with great expressions. Visual comedy was important because nobody talks in the spot, so we had that as our main filter.

LBB> I like the spot where the guy describes the spicy chicken sandwich as “razzmatazz”. How did you come up with the idea for this one, and why “razzmatazz?”

Enrique> We went out and got KFC ‘Spicy Chicken Sandwiches’ and then Pat and Kelly, our creative team, brainstormed ways to describe it while we ate it. All the words were just funny things we threw out while we ate.

LBB> Do you personally have a favourite of the four ads?

Enrique> They are all different, so it’s hard to decide, but ‘Around the Table’ is a great spot to launch our new creative platform. It’s a good mix of comedy and food. We created a modern way of showing people eating around a table to showcase a big part of the KFC menu in an entertaining way. ‘Flirtation’ and ‘Razzmatazz’ are also great spots because real people can identify with the main characters, and they start craving the sandwich after the spot ends.

LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?

Enrique> ‘Around the Table’ was the most challenging because of the production complexity. On the first cut, everything was way too fast and hard to follow. The way we shot it was unlike a normal spot where you can edit a scene and make it work, this was all planned and timed out ahead of shooting. In the end, we cut one scenario and changed the original VO which, in all honesty, improved it a lot. Another difficult element was having people eat on camera; they seem to completely forget how to eat and exaggerate or just fake it. But we found a good way to do it in the end.

LBB> What has the response to the campaign been like?

Enrique> So far, so good. We especially enjoy the response from people who are not in advertising: the real consumers who are enjoying the ads — that’s great for us.

LBB> The ads show several techniques for eating KFC offerings. What’s your go-to order, and what’s the proper technique for eating it?

Enrique> A ‘Spicy Chicken Sandwich’ with a side of fries, and the only technique is using your hands and lickin’ your fingers after the last bite.

LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?

Nick> We’re doing something we haven’t done in a while with this campaign, showcasing the customers we serve enjoying our finger-lickin’ good food. What we know about younger generations, particularly millennials, is that they are  super confident, authentic and they love fried chicken! Lucky for us, we have the most authentic, most confident tagline about loving fried chicken ever uttered – “it’s finger-lickin’ good.”  Our fried chicken is so good that you’ll literally lick your fingers anytime, anywhere, to get every last morsel of its taste, quality, and flavour. We’re turning ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ into an attitude and lifestyle.

Enrique> Big kudos to the core team (Pat Harrington, ACD writer; and Kelly Nichols, ACD art director) who came up with all these great ideas. And to director Allie Avital who made it look amazing. And to the rest of the account, planning, social and production team, of course.