Question

You are required to develop and submit a 12-month integrated marketing communications plan for the KFC Company.

The media plan should include the following elements and should be NO LONGER THAN 1000 words in length. The emphasis in the plan should be on the media selection and the rationale for it in terms of the strategic marketing task and the exposure required within the target segment. The report should include details of:

Element	Range of Marks
Introduction and brand information	0 - 5
Target audience analysis	0 - 5
Communication objectives	0 - 5
Creative strategy and elements	0 - 10
Media strategy	0 - 10
Customisation for other media, including digital	0 - 10

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Answer 1

1. Introduction and brand information

KFC, known as Kentucky fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded by colonel harland Sanders (born on September 9,1890) at the age of sixty five.

KFC is currently one of the largest business of the global food service industry and is widely known around the world as the face of colonel Sanders. every year, over a billion KFC chicken dinners are served featuring the colonel's "finger licking' good" special recipe. The colonel had spread his industry to more than 80 countries and territories globally.

Kentucky fried Chicken is one of the leading fast food franchise concepts of today; present in a variety of countries round the world and has been a proficient to launch a re owned international reputation in multiple continents, starting in the United States in the 1930s, it has grown to become a true multi-domestic company. KFC has focused on foreign markets since 1960 and has initiated a new challenge today in conquering Asia.

2.Target audience analysis

World’s 2nd largest fast food chain and largest chicken restaurant on the basis of sales is KFC, the successful brand of the parent company YUM! brand. It’s been more than 75 years since its inception and still, KFC’s original recipe of fried chicken is satisfying the taste buds of customers because it is finger licking good!!.

KFC with its 750000+ workforce, serves fresh delicious fried chicken to customers in nearly 18000 restaurants across the world in 120+ countries.

KFC (Kentucky Fried chicken) uses demographic segmentation to serve the market as per the customer needs & wants. The consumers of KFC are the young as well as young adults.

It used to serve the same menu all around the world which means that it was using undifferentiated targeting strategy. However, in recent times, following McDonalds example, KFC has started localising its menu, giving it better acceptability in the market. Moreover it has transformed its positioning strategy from product based to value based in recent times.

KFC is strongly positioned in the minds of consumers for its Chicken menu. There are very few outlets which serve anything in vegetarian. But when it comes to non vegetarian, KFC is just superb. Its chicken wings, and chicken bucket is a favourite with everyone. This excellent targeting technique is the reason that most non vegetarian lovers flock at KFC.

18000 restaurants delivering finger licking delicious fast food across the world, KFC has evolved itself through the years and having strong tie-ups or strategic partnership with the supply chain partners is helping them in serving its customers in a better way.

KFC always believes in keeping its outlet in premium areas as well as in malls and shopping complexes. These KFC outlets can also carry out delivery for online orders of KFC. As a result, KFC covers both – online and offline deliveries.KFC is currently ranked 147 in the global brand ranking table. Sustained positive brand positioning has helped the company in creating top of mind awareness (TOMA) Although more than 50% of its sales come from Developed nations but those market shave stagnant growth rate and developing nations like India, China and many others have big potential for KFC.

Customer of KFC are the people from different age group, all who want to satisfy their taste buds with the finger licking delicious chicken menu. Most of the customers can be defined as youngsters or young adults who can shell out a minimum amount of money to have a delicious meal.

3.Communication objectives

The KFC add hope campaign is very successful as it is running from October 2013. consumers have donated over R6 milllion in R2 coins at KFC restaurants nationwide. This shows that the campaign's performance all over the country was a success and is still striving towards success.

KFC objective is not to only increase sales but also to help the community and the under privileged through their feeding schemes. Every six seconds a child dies of hunger. KFC's objective is to reduce hunger and poverty nationwide.

KFC's marketing objective is to make every customer aware of the add hope campaign. this is achieved by advertising the campaign everywhere possible. KFC advertises for the television and the radio as well as print media such as billboards, on the servielles, in the store advertising, on the receipt a customer receives after they purchase their meals and as well as tha t-shorts and caps that staff may wear.

4.Creative strategy and elements

KFC has come a long way since being pelted with stones on its debut in 1995, having emerged as Yum! Restaurant's largest restaurant chain and McDonald's biggest challenger in the country. Yet, analysts feel that the American fast-food major has its toughest challenge yet ahead-of reaching its target of having 500 outlets by 2015, which could be daunting in the face of growing competition and slowing economy.

KFC plans to grow on four fronts-geographical reach, food menu, serving hour and customer base, with particular focus on the Indian youth.

"There is massive headroom for growth in India," says Niren Chaudhary, managing director of Yum! India, which also licenses quick-service restaurant chains Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to franchisees. After all, organised food retail accounts for barely 2% of the massive $90-billion, or approx 4.5 lakh crore, overall food business in the country.

"But it (growth) is dependent on high volumes, since margins are low," says Chaudhary. Hence, KFC wants to serve 50 cities through 500 stores by 2015, up from just over 150 stores now. Second, it wants to move from being a lunch and dinner vendor to an all-day joint, and will look a breakfast and after-dinner options.

Then, it wants to look beyond its staple of burgers (KFC had just three options in its menu when it came to India) to serve nearly 100 different items. And fourth, it wants to reach a wider consumer base by having low-priced dishes and stepping up home delivery. The challenge for KFC is to be noticed in an increasingly crowded market, where few brands have built brand loyalty and a repeatable set of customers.

According to some estimates, city-bred Indians eat out around once every 45 days on average, while in the West it is once every 48 hours. With economy still growing at a healthy pace despite recent slowdown, incomes on the rise and the growing middle class being increasingly dominated by aspiring young consumers, there is huge scope for growth in the restaurant business.

Another challenge in this business is the low margins. While restaurant business has gross margins of 50-60%, according to some estimates, but factors such as people costs, real estate and rising food expenses result in net margins of barely 15-20%.

So far KFC has remained unscathed though-company officials say KFC has not had to shutter a single store for being unprofitable yet. And it can draw from its experience in China-where it has grown into a chain of more than 3,500 stores in less than 25 years since its entry in 1987-to meet its India plans. For example, KFC China expanded its menu to include unorthodox options such as egg tarts, shrimp and fish to attract free-spending youth to its stores. We learnt two concepts from China - move as fast as you can be the first in an area if possible, and make the concept as broad as possible.

5.Media strategy   

Kentucky Fried Chicken, the biggest competitor of McDonalds in terms of product offerings has had a tough start in the Indian market. A restaurant chain which has the word “Chicken” in its name is ought to face some hindrance in a country like India. But KFC has come a long way from its inception in India.KFC played the watch and watch game in India and it soon realized that it needs to work on “Price” and “Customer Satisfaction”. To highlight these aspects KFC has used three of the many social media platforms- Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

a) KFC on Facebook

KFC India’s Facebook page is extremely high on interactions with customers and is even used as a medium to educate their customers with new product offerings, discounts and other schemes. It is also used as a medium to solve customer grievances.

The brand is high on product oriented content. Online ordering facilities are being promoted on social media which is a smart move. However, most food and beverage brands tend to follow a set pattern in Facebook marketing instead of executing innovative ideas.

On the occasion of 26th January-Republic Day, the KFC’s Facebook team had created a sort of an animation in which they used images to portray as if three MIG fighter planes are travelling across the page. It included a series of 13 photos in which you just need to keep on pressing the right arrow key and the planes would move across the page from left to right.

This whole animation of photos received tremendous response and gave a patriotic appeal to the page and helped them connect with the audience on the occasion of Republic Day. They also got a good level of interaction on the post.

b) KFC on Twitter

After some positives from the Facebook page I moved on to the Twitter handle of KFC which turned out to be as interactive as the Facebook page. The team looking after the handle was prompt and excellent when it came to pacifying unhappy customers.

The engagement level was extremely high. They were interactive and had a contest which was running (integrated across Facebook and Twitter). They were prompt while tackling a customer grievance and used the portal to promote new schemes and discounts.

But on the negative side some of the tweets didn’t make any sense at all and these tweets didn’t engage the audience as well. The number of retweets or conversation on these tweets was extremely low. Possibly because KFC needs to move beyond displaying products on their handles.

KFC can have more engaging tweets where they involve their customers to interact with the brand and get some returns in terms of audience behavior.

c) KFC on Youtube

The YouTube Channel of KFC lacks in content big time. There are just advertisements which are aired on the Idiot Box which are present on the channel.

With a good number of subscribers KFC could have used YouTube as a medium in a better way. KFC’s last year’s campaign- “25 me khao, kha ke bolo WOW” was an excellent one but KFC couldn’t take it to the next level by using its YouTube channel more frequently.

Youtube should not be used as a secondary medium to show its ads but as a medium to attract customers and engage with them. Though KFC has used YouTube as a medium very efficiently in the past, lately there has been no effort.

McDonald’s being the toughest and the biggest competitor of KFC has not been able to capitalize on the fact that they entered the Indian market well before KFC.

If we compare the two brands the verdict is marginally in favor of KFC. The engagement level and the interaction level of both the brands are decent but KFC still has an edge over McDonalds. Both the brands are competing at the price point.
With KFC introducing the Rs 25/- menu and communicating the same though its social media platforms it is giving a tough competition to McDonalds.

According to experts,

KFC still needs to work on its language and tonality. Most responses sound automated. The ‘prompt’ can soon be perceived as the ‘distant’, owing to the tone of the replies. They could even look at adding a conversation tone to their posts on Facebook.

If KFC truly is a brand willing to chart lengths on social media then YouTube remains a sorely neglected platform. Other than uploading TVCs they could also look at adding videos that share a few recipes or the processes that run behind the counters at KFC across India. Revealing content of such nature will help them build assurance and credibility in a preferably vegetarian country.

KFC India’s social media strategy has most of its its basics in place. The brand now needs to take one step ahead and leverage social media in a much bigger way. Integrated campaigns, taking conversations offline and building sustainable digital properties should be prominent in their social media strategy now.

6. Customization for other media, including digital  

With brands getting increasingly innovative to pamper their customers, KFC has taken a step ahead by introducing the One-Click Button which allows users to order their favorite food at the mere click of a button. When asked about the motive behind this service, Lluis Ruiz Ribot, CMO, KFC India, said they plan to build more brand relevance in the delivery space.

The One-Click Button is a unique tech-innovation that allows consumers to instantly order their favorite KFC meal with the push of a button. The idea behind introducing the One-Click Button is to offer a completely new and hassle-free ordering experience to consumers.The pocket-size device needs a one-time setup to connect to the available Wi-Fi and load a consumer’s favourite order. When the button is pressed, the consumer receives a smartphone notification allowing them to confirm or cancel the order.

Consumers are being pampered by websites and apps that make things easy for them – be it shopping or bill payments. By being the first major restaurant company that introduces one click ordering, company  expecting to capitalize on this need and become a more relevant brand in the delivery space. With One-click ordering, KFC offers a completely new and hassle-free ordering experience to consumers.

KFC is a young brand and its consumers are largely millennials who are tech-savvy, discerning and appreciative of brands that are bold. To be relevant to this TG, KFC have always strived to be distinctive, and have introduced many tech-innovations in the recent past, such as the KFC Gamer’s Box or Watt-a-Box. One-click is a whole new experience and members are confident that it will give impetus to our online ordering.

KFC have transitioned from traditional platforms and are constantly pushing the boundaries with digital as a medium to reach both current and potential consumers. Over the last couple of years, KFC have leveraged our digital assets and increased the quality and quantity of content that we put out.

While its digital strategy differs from campaign to campaign, but overall focus is on making customized content for digital assets, unlike most other brands who put out the same TVC on their Youtube channel or social media platforms.

Whether it is creating short format videos, or GIFs, or even exclusive short duration ads for our digital assets, it focus on content that is interesting and engaging. KFC recently created mini 6-second ads – which are short, quick and grab consumer attention – to promote our Triple Treat and Super Sixes value offers.

KFC perceive that the entire QSR space has the potential for growth. Competition is healthy for any business, as it drives us to work that much harder towards attracting new customers and also retaining the existing ones.

consumers visit for the uniquely crave-able taste of chicken. Everything, from using 100% whole chicken, sourced from best-in-class suppliers to make sure that every food item is freshly prepared in our restaurants, every single day, is what makes the food so unique and differentiates it from other brands. KFC focus on offering the best tasting chicken in new innovative formats and flavors to consumers, which is evident from other recent launches– Chick’n Fried Roll, Nashville Chicken, Smoky Grilled Chicken, ChilliChizza.

Also, as a brand, it has taken a conscious call to not engage in any type of couponing or ‘buy one, get one free’ offers, instead it focus on building everyday value. KFC value offers like Wednesday Special, Triple Treat and Super Sixes help consumers make smart choices and enjoy unmatched abundance, variety and value at the same time. To remain relevant to TG, KFC constantly strive to be bold and distinctive.