1) Increase sales for KFC’s seasonal summer drink, Krushers Mocktails, outside of the summer season.
KFC restaurants are more than a place for teens to grab a bite. It’s the cultural meeting point for Romania’s young generation to come together to share good vibes and great food amongst friends. Whether airing their feelings, or sharing in a celebration, teens know that KFC is their local hang-out no matter the season, with fun novelty items to enjoy along with year-round classic treats.
Krushers Mocktails is their preferred summer drink: An icy, carbonated beverage with a Sprite base, mixed with mint flavoring, garnished with a lemon wedge and mint leaves. With several different flavors (Mojito, strawberry, pineapple), Krushers Mocktails are there every sip of the way, at the table where teens swap stories, beside them on the outdoor terraces as they check their smartphones, or in-hand with teens on their summer adventures. In a country where the temperature can hover near 100 degrees Fahrenheit in July or August, it’s the perfect beverage to chill down those dog days of summer.
However, when summer draws to a close, a wave of sadness crashes over teens. Not only are the beloved Krushers Mocktails pulled off the menu, but teens are forced to leave the sunny outdoors to the refuge of their homes and, most critically, the internet.
This begged the question: How could we creatively task teens to keep Krushers Mocktails on the menu and, by extension, ensure that summer lasts well beyond August?
In Romania, as in most four-season countries around the world, there are traditional cultural markers to announce winter’s arrival.
Here, winter season doesn’t officially begin until our star singer Paul Ciprian Surugiu, more affectionately known as ‘Fuego’, says so. When Fuego’s most notable song, “Mother, Decorate the Christmas Tree” is heard, winter has officially come. Think of it as Romania’s version of George Michael’s “Last Christmas” or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
This artist, famous in Romania for his romantic songs, over time became an internet sensation. He’s acknowledged in interviews that during his live music tours he can’t escape audience’s demand for his famed Christmas song, already more than 10 years old in Romania.
While Fuego is certainly beloved by the older generation, teens have elevated him to cult status. He is the country’s most memed person and artist; Romania’s very own Chuck Norris: famous to parents and ironically “internet-famous” among teens.
In a desperate attempt to prolong summer, we needed teens to prevent Fuego from singing his signature song. After all, if Fuego doesn’t sing, winter hasn’t yet come and Krushers Mocktails will remain on KFC’s menu.
In September, we introduced the “Winter is NOT Coming!” digital campaign to extend summer by partnering with Romanian singer and cultural icon Fuego, “the guy who brings winter to Romania.”
To prolong summer, teens distracted Fuego from decorating the Christmas tree by assigning him tasks through a dedicated website.
Once teens entered the site, they were met by a waiting Fuego, Krushers Mocktail in hand, who playfully taunted his audience that he would start decorating the tree and singing his song. In order to delay him, teens chose from over 30 silly distracting tasks for Fuego to perform by using the search bar, which recognized and understood teenage slang, to maximize ease and humor. The tasks then ran as videos, where Fuego would complete Xbox challenges or attempt to master the Japanese skill toy kendama. Tasks lasted up to a minute and ran on a loop, with Fuego ramping up the pressure to extend summer between tasks, interacting with his online audience with the same playfulness he brings to his live shows.
Using the time spent on this website, we recreated the fun loving feeling of summer through interaction with a cultural icon, transforming the campaign into a call-to-action, a teen manifesto to keep their beloved Krushers Mocktails on the menu.
An app counted the number of minutes users spent on the website, which directly translated to increased time for Krushers Mocktails on the menu. We spread the word on social media to lure teens into trying the challenge.
