KFC India’s Omnichannel Consumer Connect

KFC India’s Omnichannel Consumer Connect

A humongous response to its ‘Watt a Box’ campaign on Facebook in June-July 2016 and the perfectly timed offline/on-ground campaign like ‘Nashville ATM’ during the demonetization drive in India had put Kentucky Fried Chicken India (KFC India) on a growth trajectory (after several unsuccessful years) with 13% increase in sales in Q3 FY2016. However, to retain itself on this growth path in India the company needed to constantly engage and make deeper connect with its target consumer – individuals up to 35 years of age – especially when it was surrounded with challenges like growing competition from within and outside the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) segment, evolving consumer preferences by the day, evolving Indian concepts in cuisines and growing health awareness.

Indian Food and Beverages Industry – Quick Service Restaurants (QSR)

The Indian Food and Beverages (F&B) service sector is faced with many challenges like lack of quality infrastructure (lack of cold storage and cold-chain), lack of skilled manpower, high real-estate cost, difficulty in acquiring licenses required to commence operations, and burden of multiple taxes (like VAT, excise, and service tax, besides different state taxes, which add up to 17.5%-25% of the bill value). Though faced with challenges, the Indian F&B service sector had grown over the years at a rapid pace, supported by the various demand and supply factors (Exhibit I)..............

KFC and KFC India

KFC Corporation (more commonly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC), based in Louisville, Kentucky is an American fast food restaurant chain. KFC is the world’s second-largest restaurant chain9 (as measured by sales) after McDonald’s, with more than 20,000 locations globally in 125 countries10 as of 2017. In 1930, Colonel Harland Sanders (Sanders) brought a road-side motel and café in Corbin, Kentucky and began selling fried chicken. In 1952, Sanders took up to franchising and opened the first KFC franchise restaurant in Utah. However, in 1964, overwhelmed with rapid expansion, Sanders sold KFC to a group of investors. After many international expansions and changes in corporate ownerships, the chain, as of 2017, was owned by Yum! Brands, a spin-off of PepsiCo’s restaurant division............

KFC India’s Omnichannel Campaigns

Sanders was a key component of KFC’s advertising until his death in 1980. He had branded himself as Colonel Sanders donned with a dapper white suit since 1950. Even after his death, Sanders remained a key icon of the company with his face included in the KFC logo, which is prevalent till date (2017), and stood as an ‘international symbol of hospitality’. KFC’s early official slogans were some of the best-known slogans of the 20th century which included ‘North America’s Hospitality Dish’ (1956), ‘We fix Sunday dinner seven nights a week’ and ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ (1956) – which is its current slogan in India.............

#KFCBoxwala – On-ground Campaign

As a part of its innovative marketing campaign, in March 2016, KFC got Mumbai’s Dabbawalas (known for their efficient delivery of office lunches) to deliver its newly launched 5-in-1 Meal Boxes to some office-goers instead of their regular lunch boxes...............

Nashville Chicken – GIF Ads on TV, YouTube and Social Media

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), an image format that is a cross between a still photograph and a video, are popular on social media to present short comic messages. KFC India leveraged on this file format and released a series of 10-second TVCs to showcase................

Teleconnect to Nashville – On-ground Event

The legend of Nashville has it that if you challenge your mind and focus your thoughts hard enough, you are sure to be rewarded. As a follow-up to GIF TVCs, KFC took up on-ground campaign, in a Mumbai mall, titled ‘Teleconnect to Nashville’ to launch Nashville chicken in a unique way.............

Design Your Own Bucket Campaign

To launch its new tagline, ‘So Good’ KFC India created a ‘Design Your Own Bucket’ App on Facebook in March 2012...........

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Assignment Questions

I. Analyze KFC India’s omnichannel consumer connects through online and offline platforms and debate on their efficacy given the nature of its products and target customers.
II.......................

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Growth Drivers – Demand and Supply

Exhibit II: F&B Industry in India and The QSR Segment

KFC India’s Omnichannel Consumer Connect

Synopsis

Since 2014, Kentucky Fried Chicken India (KFC India) had taken up online and offline campaigns to connect with its target customers in India - individuals below 35 years of age, comprising of children, college-goers and early/young workers. Its consumer connect initiatives ranged from 'Teleconnect to Nashville', 'Nashville ATM', 'TVS in GIF', 'KFC duo Friendship Bucket', '#KFC WishBucket', 'The Watt A Box', etc. While the company witnessed reasonable success with the omnichannel campaigns, how should it make a deeper connect with its target customers, in the wake of rising competition from home-grown and international QSRs in India? Should it continue to be active through its omnichannel campaigns or should it focus more on digital or Social Media campaigns given the nature of its products and target customers? How should it engage more with its target customers? This case study enables an interesting discussion on the possible digital marketing engagement initiatives of KFC India.

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding/Before the Classroom Discussion

The students/participants should have a conceptual understanding of omnichannel marketing and how companies use offline and online social media platforms to engage with their customers and market their products. They can read the chapter/material related to "Omnichannel Retailing and Omnichannel Marketing" from the curriculum taught in their respective Digital Marketing course/program.

Case Positioning and Setting

This case study can be used in MBA/Post-graduate program for either of the following in Digital Marketing course/module:

• To understand how a company could connect to its customers through omnichannel (online and offline) platforms
• To understand the efficacy of both online and offline channels and decide on which would be better for a company like KFC

Assignment Questions

I. Analyze KFC India’s omnichannel consumer connects through online and offline platforms and debate on their efficacy given the nature of its products and target customers.
II...........

Preamble to the Case Study Analysis and Suggested Orchestration

This case study helps analyze KFC India’s presence across offline and online channels and enables a debate on the efficacy of its initiatives across these channels. While it discusses the benefits and risks of each of the media channels used by KFC India for its customer engagement, it debates on which channel would be more suitable to make a deeper impact and connect with its target customer. The case study analysis was carried out as presented in Exhibit (TN)-I..........