Phone Stack
KFC
Issue 31 | June 2014
Agency
BBDO Proximity, Kuala Lumpur
Creative Team
Creative Tan Chee Keong Adam Chan Carina Teo Alvin Ho Martin Ng Mandy Chock Ferhan Faidzan Wan Yin Sian James Voon
Production Team
Production Hong Nyok Hwa Jan Teoh Sandra Duarete Jackie Chong Cheok Kay Kuan Mike Laeno
Other Credits
John Teoh Marlo Ongpin
Date
October 2013
Background
It all started from an insight: that Malaysians spend a quarter of their waking hours on their phones. KFC wanted people to reconnect with the people around them through good food.
Idea
People were invited to disconnect to reconnect. They were challenged to put down their phones at mealtime in order to talk to each other.
To persuade them to do this, in-store point-of-sale posters told visitors to KFC about The KFC Phone Stack.
This was an app that allowed people to link their phones in a stack. They scanned a QR code then piled their phones one on top of the other. If anyone touched their phone, then the link was broken. The longer the stack was left alone, the more rewards the stackers became entitled to.
Results
What began in stores soon spread everywhere. People began stacking their phones wherever and whenever they came together. In one month, over 6,000 So Good minutes were shared.
Our Thoughts
We live in a world of paradox. Things that are nice (chocolate, alcohol, KFC, you name it) turn out to have nasty effects. And mobile phones, designed to help us communicate, stop us from talking to each other. Even the phone companies issue suggestions from time to time that we need to ‘turn off to turn on’.
If you think it’s amazing that 25% of the average Malaysian’s day is spent peering at their mobile, in Japan 90% of mobile phones are now waterproof so kids can use them in the shower.
In a world in which alienation is a real problem for many, if KFC can stake out this territory and ‘own’ real conversation, it could be an astonishingly rewarding proposition for them.