KFC's "Family Bucket" Marketing Strategy

KFC’s marketing approach has always been wild.

The familiar old colonel was replaced by a young muscular handsome guy, and a "striptease" was openly performed. This is something that the McDonald's next door would never do.

He also continues to launch peripheral products such as fried chicken-flavored nail polish, fried chicken-flavored bath powder, fried chicken-flavored sunscreen, gravy-flavored scented candles, etc., proving with his own actions how creative he is.

Among these marketing actions, the one that appears most frequently, apart from the Colonel, is the "Family Bucket". Although it is often criticized by netizens, K's family bucket should be called a "single bucket" because it is only enough to feed one person .

But the fact is that the family bucket, which is expensive and has little content, has always been a popular product of KFC.

After reading the following article, you may find that KFC, which is famous for its chicken, has put more thought into the "bucket" than fried chicken and burgers .

1. Fried chicken is for eating, and the family bucket is for creativity

KFC, which has always been jokingly called "Kaifeng cuisine" by netizens, is no longer satisfied with just selling "Fried Chicken Family Bucket", and has launched "Skewer Bucket", "Moon Cake Bucket", "K Rice Bucket" and so on, turning foreign fast food into a Chinese restaurant .

It even caused netizens to wonder: Can everything be KFC?

In Amu's opinion, a more accurate statement is "everything can be a family bucket."

No matter what is sold in the bucket, the family bucket is like a filter, which automatically gives the food inside the "KFC characteristics" and rationalizes all operations .

This is thanks to KFC's long-term use of the word "bucket", bundling this keyword with the brand: operations like brand-co-branded buckets have become a familiar routine, and this year they have collaborated with the National Museum to launch a family bucket with intangible cultural heritage patterns.

At the same time, the family bucket is also a powerful tool for riding on the popularity : when Prince Harry got married, KFC launched the Royal Wedding Bucket , changing the original red color of the family bucket to royal-style gold + white, which instantly became noble and attracted a lot of attention.

Last year in the UK, because of the failure of the new chicken supplier, more than 700 stores across the country were forced to close due to lack of chicken, causing a "chicken shortage". KFC took the opportunity to change the KFC on the bucket to FCK , and used some swear words to make fun of itself, which instantly attracted many fans.

Many people have seen the revolving lantern , but have you ever seen the family version? KFC once launched a limited edition laser-engraved family bucket. Turn off the lights, put your phone in the hollow bucket, and a carousel will appear. With the function of KFC mobile app, you can listen to stories while eating fried chicken.

KFC is also a technology company that installs printers on its family buckets so you can print photos.

It is also easy to turn the family bucket into a bathtub or a fisherman's hat .

Recently, KFC also launched an activity in which people wear the whole bucket on their heads to participate in various sports , providing a lot of pranks and funny materials.

The authorities often use the bucket to make fun of it, which has also triggered the creativity of netizens , who have used their best skills to transform the bucket into headphones, drums, umbrellas, wall clocks, helmets, etc.:

With the "blessing" of this bucket, KFC's products not only have a memorable point, but are also given the brand attribute of "fun". Consumers may not necessarily remember where your chicken comes from, what inspection standards it has passed, or what cooking method is used to keep the chicken crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but if you go to the streets and ask people what is special about KFC, the answer will probably be: KFC has a family bucket .

2. A marketing veteran who is well versed in the psychology of the masses

After all these creative ideas, marketing ultimately comes back to selling products. As a veteran in marketing, KFC can be said to have a lot to say.

1. Bug Marketing

In 2017, netizens discovered a major bug in the KFC App. As long as users changed their account birthday to "20160828", they would receive a half-price coupon for a family bucket for six people. So enthusiastic netizens came out and called on everyone to take advantage of the situation and place orders quickly before the official fixes the loophole.

Consumers who originally had no plans to buy the whole package also made a move in order not to miss out on this wave of dividends, causing the App to quickly top the download hot list.

In March this year, a bug appeared in the KFC App again, and a family bucket that originally cost 110 yuan could be purchased for only 35 yuan.

Of course, these two bugs were quickly fixed by the official. Consumers who got the bargains couldn't help but show off, while those who didn't were envious and jealous... We don't know whether KFC directed and acted this out itself, and we don't dare to ask, but there is no doubt that KFC is the biggest winner in these two Bug incidents.

2. Fan Marketing

In addition to being a veteran in bug marketing, KFC also has a deep understanding of fan psychology, making the family bucket into a magical tool for fans to express their love to celebrities, the "WOW Bucket", reflecting the fans' love for their idols through the purchase volume.

The more tickets fans buy, the more benefits they can unlock and they can occupy the outdoor big screen to express their love to their idols . In order to make their idols proud, fans put in a lot of effort to spend money to vote for them.

With the help of the WOW bucket, KFC successfully mobilized the purchasing power of fans and converted the star's ability to bring goods into sales. When the family bucket becomes a national hot topic, it naturally affects the entire body and attracts much attention from the public. Coupled with reasonable user behavior link design, the money-making power of the whole family bucket has been detonated .

3. Conclusion

To put it bluntly, the "bucket" in the family bucket is just the "packaging" and "container" of the fried chicken, but there is more to the family bucket than the main character, the fried chicken. There are actually two benefits to doing this:

1. Creativity doesn’t have to be limited to fried chicken

If KFC sells fried chicken every day, consumers will get tired of it. But by bringing out the family bucket, creativity is no longer limited to the product but still within the scope of the brand. This can easily attract consumers' attention and provide more room for creativity.

2. Create a brand memory point

A change in packaging may bring about innovation in the product category and also become a memory point for the public.

Putting nuts into small daily packages triggered a "daily nuts" war among brands in the snack industry; putting tea leaves into bags subverted the traditional tea drinking model, and Lipton pioneered the "tea bag" category; KFC sold fried chicken in buckets, which created a memorable point for KFC.

However, McDonald's also launched the Golden Arches Bucket to compete with KFC's Family Bucket, and also launched the "Missing Relatives Notice" and "First Bucket of Gold in 2019" activities, which were very popular .

The story of the fast food business battle sparked by a "bucket" has just begun. ,

Author: Marketing has a set

Source: Marketing has a set of