“We gave KFC’s most remote store owner a Facebook account, ghostwriter, media training, production crew, pan-agency support team, and a mission to get Kentucky Fried Chicken the ultimate symbol of food quality: a Michelin Star.”

There’s no higher accolade of quality in the food world than getting a Michelin Star. But Michelin hasn’t placed Australia on its culinary map yet, let alone any mainstream fast-food chain.

“Our idea wasn’t about actually getting KFC a Michelin Star, but getting credit for making quality fried chicken – by associating ourselves with the well-known culinary prestige and status of the Michelin Guide.”

“But we needed to do this credibly. So we developed a believable narrative and carefully cast Sam, an incredibly charismatic KFC store owner that Australia would want to get behind because every Aussie loves an underdog story. You’ve seen Crocodile Dundee.”

“Independent research identified that simply reminding people that the letters KFC stood for ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ immediately improved perceptions of food quality. By referring to KFC’s chicken as Kentucky Fried Chicken, it conjured up notions of “care,” “authenticity,” and “expertise”. So the team needed to find a credible way to get this new (but old) brand name out there. Yet a traditional campaign that just told people that KFC is short for Kentucky Fried Chicken would be a bit banal, and potentially KFC just talking to itself. We needed to do something crazy enough that Aussies would take notice of.”

So the Michelin Impossible campaign’s bold strategy was to ditch traditional advertising and instead associate KFC with an independent symbol of food quality – the Micheline Guide – leveraging its credibility and influence to get Kentucky Fried Chicken the quality kudos it deserved.

Idea: “We devised a carefully crafted, social-first narrative to ensure our mission would be accepted and embraced by the Australian public. Authenticity was crucial. So even though the initial content was scripted and shot weeks before launch, the mission played out in real-time via a Facebook Group that appeared to be set up by Sam. The Facebook Group and all content were produced to look as if Sam was championing the mission alone. But it was a highly considered and professionally built content hub that also acted as a goldmine for journalists. We had a million ideas on where the mission would take Sam, planning multiple ways the story could play out. After a global swell of social (and earned media) support, we scored Sam in an improbable meeting with the International Director of Michelin Guides. We had a crew ready to capture the moment in Paris.”

#KFC #Michelinstar #MichelinGuide #Michelin #MarketingCampaign #Ad

Michelin Impossible campaign Recognitions
1 x Global Grand Effie
1 x Cannes Lion (Bronze)
2 x APAC Effies (Gold)
2 x IPA Effectiveness Awards (Best Small Budget, Bronze)
4 x Spikes Asia Awards (1 Grand Prix, 2 Gold, 1 Silver)
2 x London International Awards (Bronze)
4 x Caples Awards (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze)
2 x Webby Awards
2 x Clio Awards (1 Silver, 1 Bronze)
5 x Ad Stars Awards (3 Bronze, 2 Crystal)
1 x AWARD Award (Bronze)
1 x WARC Award for Effectiveness (Gold)
3 x Australian Effies Awards (Bronze)
5 x APAC SABRE Awards (incl. Best In Show)
1 x APAC Marketing Magazine PR Award (Gold)
Ranked #3 in Global SABRE Awards
CommsCon Awards Highly Commended
AC&E Awards Finalist
AdNews Awards Finalist
Featured in The One Show AsiaCreative Showcase
Featured in Directory Magazine

Credits
Client: KFC
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy
Product: Fast Food
Advertising Campaign: Michelin Impossible
Media: Key Media Channel – Social
Country: Australia

For the record, Country Agency of the Year is a special award that is calculated on a points system. It is given to the Agency from an individual country that obtains the most points for ‘winning and shortlisted entries’ in the Spikes Asia Awards.

Ashish Bhasin, CEO APAC and Chairman India, Dentsu Aegis Network said: “What an incredibly proud moment this is! The script is changing – not only for DAN but for the entire Advertising ecosystem. And here, Dentsu Webchutney is steadily rising as leaders across all. What an absolute honour it is to be named the Spikes Asia India Agency of the Year, thus, highlighting our focus on creative. Dentsu Webchutney’s wins this year only stand to be a testimony to its outstanding brilliance. This is a new benchmark and signals the beginning of the end of legacy creative agencies that are struggling to adapt to the changing environment.”

Dentsu Webchutney’s co-founder & CEO Sidharth Rao and co-founder and CCO Sudesh Samaria commented in a joint statement: “To be named the Country Agency of the Year for India at Spikes Asia 2019 is an enormous victory for us. The year has been extremely generous to Dentsu Webchutney and we feel fantastic. Our bold bets have finally paid off. We have said this before, awards or not; digital will force traditional advertising to be transformed into a more capable service provider. We’ve been watching from the sidelines all this while and in a way, it’s our time. I’m just glad that it happened to be Dentsu Webchutney showing the way. It’s a milestone that one digital Agency had to cross – it would’ve happened anyway, but I’m happy to see how Dentsu Webchutney has catalysed it. You’ll see more and more of this going forward.”

Joe Pullos, Festival Director, Spikes Asia said: “The Spikes Asia Awards are the definitive benchmark for creativity in APAC. Winning an Award at the Festival is a huge achievement, but to take the Country Agency of the Year title, is recognition of an agency’s creative excellence at a country-wide level. I want to send a huge congratulations to Dentsu Webchutney for this highly commendable win.”

Tags:
Agency News, Advertising Awards, Sidharth Rao, Country Agency of the Year, Spikes Asia 2019

Today WATConsult is not only one of the leading but is one of the best social media and digital marketing firm in India. With powerful digital campaigns like #PowerlessQueen, Kidsnotforsale, Saffola Beat the Crave, #Unplanned and more, WATConsult has won more than 50 awards, out of which about 30 are from international platforms.
Team COTW reached out to Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult to understand his journey so far and the plans for the upcoming year.

1. How do you look at your 12-year long journey and how the industry during this phase has evolved?

It’s been a long journey! 2007 seems like a lifetime ago and digital media was very different then. Facebook was in its initial stage in India and was available to just ‘.edu email’ IDs or you had to be invited to it. YouTube was just a year old and Orkut was more popular than Facebook in India. So yes, it was a lifetime ago.

The industry has evolved and changed so much since then. There was barely an industry to talk of in 2007. I remember we were pioneers when it came to offering social media services. Today space is very different, digital is a priority for CMO’s while in those days you wouldn’t even get to meet the CMO.

2. Out of all the campaigns by your consultancy which one is closer to your heart and why?

Well we are most proud about the #PowerlessQueen campaign because it has won us accolades across the globe. It really put us on the global map when it came to our work and also WATConsult became the first Indian digital agency to win in so many prestigious global award shows.

To list a few it has won a Grand Prix and a Gold in Prague International Advertising awards, it was Shortlisted in Cannes Lion 2018, won a bronze each in Clio Awards New York, Lisbon International Advertising Awards and 2 Bronze metals in London International Awards. It won two golds in Epica Awards, A Crystal in AdStars Seoul and 1 Silver and 2 Bronze in Spikes Asia Awards, 2 Bronze in Tangrams APAC and 1 Gold and 1 Bronze in Smarties APAC.

3. Some experts (Forbes blog) say that millennials want to be associated with the brands who go an extra mile to contribute to the society. What is your take on it and do you leverage this sentiment in you campaigns?

We believe that ‘brands with a purpose’ do much better than brands that only focus on its product attributes. Now, one can fit that purpose to be associated with a social cause or not that’s an option, but we do believe the purpose goes a long way in connecting the brand to the consumer, than product attributes.

We have leveraged this in several of our ongoing campaigns be it, #FlauntToFeed campaign that we did for Godrej Appliances or the Muskaan Campaign done for Himalaya or the most recent #KidsNotForSale campaign done for Snapdeal in association with Save The Children NGO.

4. What, according to you, are the key elements of a good campaign? Idea, technology, or what?

Nothing is above the idea itself and technology might be a medium to achieve that idea but nothing can be above it. Also most people believe for an idea to be a big idea, it has to be complicated. In fact on the contrary it has to be really simple. So simple that when someone watches it, they should think why didn’t I think of this?

5. With quite a number of awards in your hand already, what are your expectations for 2019?

2019 is a big year for us when it comes to Global awards. We will be participating across global awards like Adfest, Shortys and Oneshow as well as Cannes Lion 2019 which is a big one. We were shortlisted in 2018 in Cannes Lion but didn’t end up winning. We would really want to change that and win a metal at Cannes Lion 2019 and that would help us raise the bar even further. We are working very hard to make this dream of winning at Cannes Lion a reality.

Beyond awards I foresee WATConsult taking the next leap of growth in 2019. It’s a year that looks like an inflection point when digital goes mainstream and we hope to be a big part of that change.

6. How would you like the industry to look at or remember you and WATConsult?

I am not going anywhere so I hope they don’t have to remember me. I am just 33 years old so I have at least 20 years before people think about how to look at or remember me :).

In short I am just getting started. But I hope they look at WATConsult and see an agency that still brings the enthusiasm of child to the business of digital but has the wisdom of an experienced wise man. I hope they see an agency that has always looked to punch above its weight and one that has challenged norms, done path breaking work and outperformed its more experienced competitors not just in India but at Global platforms too.

7. Anything else you want to share?

Just watch out for us in 2019 we will surely be making news! 🙂