When first released in 2010 the KFC Double Down sandwich caused a lot of buzz because of it being a bun-free sandwich featuring two chicken filets, cheese and bacon. The instant popularity quickly turned it into a cult favorite among fast food lovers.
To mark its return, we wanted to go big and embody the craziness and buzz around a sandwich that is uniquely itself, and encourage skeptics and fans alike to Double Down on the Double Down.
Our goal was to create buzz and excitement around the launch of the sandwich.
Teasing The Return
Knowing this was a much-discussed product, we teased the Double Down’s return on our organic platforms to encourage engagement and make fans feel like they played a hand in bringing it back. We further maintained excitement throughout the campaign window with posts tying the Double Down to topical moments like April Fools.
This lead to positive performance across organic assets with over 9M impressions. We pushed it further by interacting with social conversation on the Double Down resulting in an increase of daily owned social mentions by 153%.
Remixing and Reintroducing
When the Double Down was last available a decade earlier, “Bubble Butt” by Major Lazer was a popular song.
To reintroduce the sandwich, we created a remix of the song that worked twofold:
1. Create a nostalgic connection with audiences
2. Educate new viewers on the sandwich build in a way that matched the craziness of the sandwich itself.
For a sandwich that generated lots of online chatter, we produced lo-fi paid social creative that felt equally organic to the internet. We also leaned into the absurdity the Double Down was known for with imagery like Double Downs falling from the sky, someone climbing the sandwich, and climbing a Double Down and Double Downs falling from the sky.
The results of the organic and paid social campaign showed the importance of letting the product speak for itself, and drive the conversation, with creative that felt social-first and just as chaotic as the Double Down sandwich itself.
And we certainly drove the buzz and excitement we were looking for - the campaign launch drove social conversation volume 2x higher than any other previous KFC launches that year. Organic content saw 9.2 M total post impressions, and a 5.2% engagement rate which was above benchmark compared to other campaigns. The paid social creative consistently performed above benchmark across channels.
