2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Background

Saying NO to selling yet another spicy food cliché, we ventured out of our comfort zone into unchartered territory: the beauty world! To regain our female audience and increase sales, we had to approach spice from a new angle, which meant taking a deep dive into the spice world – where we found our magic! According to doctors and nutritionists, spicy food has remarkable health benefits – the sweating, heavy breath and blushing – are telltale signs of a healthy lifestyle! To let women in on our secret, we launched the spicy Ghost Pepper Twister as a beauty product with astonishing end results: Natural Rosy Cheeks.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

The fast food category is buzzing with new spicy products all the time. But when KFC launched the LTO Ghost Pepper wrap, with the world’s 3rd honest spice, we wanted to an invite the entire world to try it – especially an overlooked audience: women! For ages, advertising has spewed the same rhetoric about spicy food, especially in the MENA region, where food isn’t food unless it’s covered in spice and the over the top “masculine” challenge approach is the norm. This has led to spice having an intimidating reputation – especially amongst women who are less likely to be attracted to the challenge of extreme spice. So, we found our answer, in order to steer clear of the cliches of spicy food advertising, we needed to completely reframe what it meant to eat spicy food.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

Spicy food has a bad reputation amongst those who like to look good. Especially women – who are less likely to be seduced by the challenge of extreme spice. Which is a shame, because when taking a deep-dive into the world of spice, we found doctors and nutritionists have a very different story to tell. According to them, spice has remarkable health benefits, from lowering blood pressure to weight loss and skincare routines. This insight helped us bridge the gap between the perception of spicey food among women in the region, and how we could break through the stereotypical macho spice ads that make spice about a “challenge” rather than a delicious, blush inducing experience.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

We launched this spicy Ghost Pepper Twister as a natural beauty product with amazing natural results: Gorgeous Rosy Cheeks. Using the beauty world as our muse, we entered this category like any beauty product would and created a unique parody using typical beauty-world tropes. The campaign introduced our makeup tool in three simple steps: Bite, Rush, Blush – an elegant twist that captured consumption as well as application. Every touchpoint was posed and perfected to showcase our look, sample our look, and even try our look! By hijacking the beauty category as a fast food brand, we changed how people looked at spice … and changed how spice looked on people.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

• Media impressions 13,500,000+ across region • 2 x higher completion rate for women • Sales increased by 14% compared to previous launch • 50% increase in female traffic on KFC app

Please tell us about the challenger brand and how your campaign challenged / was different from your competitors

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