The timetable was tight, the package needed to deliver. KFC and Special PR’s Super Rugby train team-up was just the ticket for Blues fans.
Five weeks. That’s how long it took KFC and Special PR to come up with ‘The Gravy Train’. It’s a world-first for KFC: a wrapped locomotive that not only delivered fans to the Blues game, but fed them hot chicken on the way.
Leanne Too, KFC Marketing Director, says getting on board with the train was part of the company’s new strategy.
KFC’s fresh thinking challenges the traditional mix of digital, out-of-home and TV – aiming to show up in places where Kiwis who love the brand gather.
The Gravy Train, created by Special PR, focused on giving fans an “incredible experience”. The aim of the brief? KFC wanted to shift its metrics on cultural relevance, appeal to a newer audience and deepen its association with the groups it sponsors.
“If you look around the rest of the world, many brands execute big flashy PR stunts like that. There are very few brands in New Zealand that have the courage or the resources to do it, and KFC is one of them,” says Kelly Grindle, Special PR General Manager.
But it is not just about getting in front of pre-existing fans – it’s also about further driving brand consideration.
And what better place than on the way to a Blues game at their home stadium, Auckland’s Eden Park?
“It was almost like a sweet spot to go to Super Rugby. The brand has had a partnership for over 10 years – this sponsorship is really important to us. Just owning that and bringing that fandom experience to the game was where we thought we could be,” says Too.
“New Zealand’s anchored in sports – Super Rugby and cricket – and those are the two key areas that we really want to put the investment behind. Culturally, it’s grassroots, but we also just want to make sure it’s top of mind in support.”
Putting on events in real life is important for KFC, says Too.
“Driving that experience into in-ground activation and just to encourage fans to enjoy it. Particularly when the shift is all towards digital now. We still want them to go back into the game.”
Grindle says, with KFC’s mixed marketing strategy to meet both digital and traditional channels, Special PR needed to engineer experiences that would translate to social and be shareable.
“It is really how all three of those work together: designing an experience that rewards the fans, amplifying that through social as a key channel, and then supporting that with heavy lifting through media relations. If you can tie all three of those threads together, you’re onto a winning formula,” he adds.
Too says The Gravy Train has been KFC’s top-performing campaign to date. It achieved cut-through, broke away from the clutter and enhanced meaning for the brand and its community.
“The Gravy Train really brought it back to community and brought meaningfulness back to the game,”
she adds.
Not only did the campaign bring the good vibes, it was picked up internationally – with 350 pieces of coverage on outlets such as Fox in the US and Yahoo – reaching 2 billion people. One piece of influencer content alone accumulated more than 4.1 million views.
“It’s definitely shifted the mark in terms of where the brand should be going and owning within the New Zealand market, if not on global headlines, which is super exciting,” adds Grindle.
Too revealed the company’s brand health statistics with YouGov are back on track since The Gravy Train left the station. KFC was struggling with consideration scores – following the campaign, this metric is now driving its brand health.
“We measure our brand around the relevancy, the modernness, and the sponsorship, awareness of the sponsorship. So, all those metrics shot it out of the park,” adds Too.
“We’ve just literally changed the brand over the last six months, in terms of the positive sentiment, the good vibes and hitting the sweet spot around the cultural relevance that we wanted to do.”
The campaign saw Special PR and KFC work alongside more partners than usual, including Auckland One Rail, Britomart, Eden Park, the Blues, KiwiRail and MediaWorks.
Grindle says The Gravy Train also supported other stakeholders, encouraging Kiwis – who are usually reluctant to leave their cars behind, even when gridlock awaits – to take public transport to events.
The success of this campaign is only the start, says Too, as Special PR and KFC plan more work together.
“It’s just keeping up the momentum because it’s working for us at every level.”
This was first published in the 2024 June-July NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
