By Simran Sabherwal
KFC, synonymous with fried chicken, has now included beverages and a vegetarian menu based on consumer insights. Dhruv Kaul, Director-Marketing, KFC, talks about innovative marketing, particularly in the digital space, and says the brand’s motto is being sensitive to the consumer and giving back to the community
Q] What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy? What does your media mix look like?
The fundamental core of whatever we do is based on consumer-centricity. Serving thousands of customers every day gives us a certain degree of sensitivity to their needs and when consumer insights and the core of our brand come together, magic happens. KFC is about great tasting food, moments of joy that make life feel good and the messaging in the store décor is also uplifting, energetic, youthful and gives the vibe that we want consumers to feel about the brand.
We use traditional media for out of store communication, particularly television. We make our food fresh every day. We do not serve processed, pre-packaged food and television is the best medium to bring that alive. We also have a huge play in social and digital media. We are among the top 10 social brands in the country, in a much higher position than the size of the brand. We are No.6 across all brands and the biggest in our category by far. That’s a testament to the work we have done in the social space to build conversations and engagement with consumers.
Q] In digital, KFC’s Wow@25 campaign was much talked about. What do you believe you are doing right on this platform?
A lot of what we do in the social space is home-grown. Our mantra is doing things first. The Wow@25 Augmented Reality App won at the 2014 Webby Awards and was the only Indian winner this year. This was a breakthrough app and used augmented reality to deliver the brand message. We are the first-to-market with breakthrough tech – be it motion-sensing apps, augmented reality and also food fonts online, bringing it to the consumer in a fun and exciting way. We are among the top socially devoted brands according to Social Baker. We believe in being a friend and not behaving like a company. We have benefited from this and have the biggest Facebook page in the KFC world.
Q] Looking at the in-store branding and communication, you use it for more than just value proposition. Can you elaborate on this?
We are constantly evolving store design and have got a new design which is now rolling out across our stores. In essence, we capture the soul of our brand – real, authentically prepared, fresh food - and let the consumer know how their food is prepared. The messaging in our new store design is quirky, funny and witty. The spirit of the brand is about letting go, taking the time out from daily life to have a great meal at KFC. This spirit is reflected in the youthful graphic, imagery on the walls – abstract and real.
We believe in giving back to the community and have initiatives to work with specially-abled people (hearing and speech impaired). Several of our stores have hearing impaired staff. We participate in the World Hunger programme every year. We communicate to people about these social and community based initiatives and let consumers know how they can participate.
Q] Does the health factor come in the way of formulating, advertising and selling your products, especially promoting fast food to children?
As a policy we don’t promote fast food and our communication is not directed towards children in terms of our product design or meals. Our primary target audience is young adults, aged 25-28. That’s actually a sweet spot for us because with majority of Indians being under 30, it sits well in terms of strategy as well. We believe in offering consumers a wide range of choices so that they can make decisions.
Q] You brought in separate veg and non-veg kitchens as part of the ‘So Veg, So Good’ campaign. Why did you feel the need to do this?
We’ve always had separate kitchens as vegetarians look for separation and are sensitive to it. When we launched our range of vegetarian products, we felt it was important to let consumers know that we are going to be bringing in many new consumers into the fold of the brand. To address any fears they had, we reassured them that vegetarian food is prepared separately. The challenge was that functional information is not riveting and interesting. People like entertainment and so took inspiration from the information entertainment spectrum. That’s how the burger love story happened. People saw it, shared it online and when people see it in the store, they pay attention as it’s entertaining.
We see a significant number of new users as we expand the brand. KFC has been on a journey of building variety for customers and we are famous for our chicken. In addition, we have successfully built an incremental layer of beverages called Krushers. We have developed excellent products and marketed them really well. We launched ‘Grilled’ a couple of years ago and now ‘Veg’ is part of the journey of building credibility in food & beverage, with our core strength of taste, bringing in incremental users and sales.
Q] The entry level price for a lot of your products is low. Does this affect your profitability?
It’s about offering various types of products for different kinds of platforms. We have a range of products spread across our portfolio - small snackable items that are priced less, larger snacks, lunch-based items, individual portions, buckets. We have a stringent policy of manning that portfolio in a manner where it adds to our margins; so we have a strong line of sight towards that. Some products have higher margins but that’s true of any portfolio and that’s really how we play it.
Q] What are the insights used in menu planning and what role does innovation play?
Innovation is critical because the palette is always open to new ideas. ‘Beverages’ and ‘Veg’ have been huge meaningful innovations based on consumer insights. We don’t change our menu but refresh it. Our core menu -chicken on the bone and fried chicken – stays constant and we have built new layers. We add to the menu from time to time, typically the frequency is two-three times a year. Our intent is to add products mostly on a permanent basis and want them to have a lasting impact on a consumer’s life.
Q] What is the insight behind ‘green stores’?
We have a green store in Chennai that uses a combination of innovation and new technology. We save about 35% water by using different fixtures and use 20% less energy with LED bulbs. We harvest sunlight and use environmentally friendly materials. We have a commitment towards sustainability and put this into practice in the green store. We apply best practices from the green store to other stores.
Q] What are the challenges faced in the Indian market?
The challenge in the Indian market is that it has got tremendous upside with tremendous opportunity. It is a vibrant and buoyant place, ideal for brands such as ours, because we are building KFC as a youthful brand. We have had enormous success and have tripled in the last three years. We continue to grow aggressively and our sights are set on having leadership in the category. Value is important to consumers and we need to have product solutions that hit the right chord in terms of value. Understanding the motivations and aspirations of the Indian youth is important and we do a lot of innovation locally. We look at local insights, for example, our rice bowls factor in a classic India staple –rice, gravy and chicken in a contemporary bowl format, that brings the best of both worlds, relevant in the Indian context with a KFC twist. The challenge is pricing it appropriately and really understanding the consumers, and tapping the omnipresent opportunity.
About The Brand
KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chains with more than 19,000 KFC outlets in 130 countries around the world. KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., Louisville, Ky. In India, KFC offers the international experience in over 301 restaurants across 81 cities. Some of the KFC favourites in India include ‘Hot & Crispy Chicken’, ‘Chicken Zinger’, ‘Veg Zinger’, ‘Rice Bowlz’ and the ‘Krushers’ range of beverages.
Marketing Tip
Avoid gimmickry. If you have clarity, it will yield rich dividends. Be honest and true to the work and brand and be yourself.
CMO File
Dhruv Kaul is the Director, Marketing for KFC India and oversees the marketing and communication functions for the brand. Under him, KFC has successfully executed consumer-driven campaigns like ‘So Veg, So Good’, #KFCWishBucket, and KFC Wow@25. Kaul has played a key role in driving KFC to being among the top 10 brands on social media in the country. Kaul has over a decade of experience and has worked with Yum! Restaurants across brands including Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut Delivery, and global consulting group Accenture. He has an MBA from the University of Oxford and a BA in Economics from St. Xavier's Mumbai.
Facts
Creative Agency – Ogilvy & Mather, New Delhi
Media Agency – Mindshare
Social and Digital Media Marketing Agency – Blink Digital India Pvt Ltd
PR Agency – Genesis Burson Marsteller
Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com
