The Battle of the Chickens • A Cultural Campaign to Engage With Freestyle Fans

With a global presence spanning across the globe, KFC is primarily known for its signature fried chicken. In Mexico, the American brand has firmly established itself as a beloved fast-food chain, with its unique menu and the Colonel’s secret recipe serving as key elements of its brand identity. However, in 2022, the brand ought to introduce a brand-new product to the country: the Kentucky Chicken Sandwich. To generate curiosity, intrigue and conversation surrounding this new creation, we devised an impactful social-first campaign that taps into the power of freestyle rap battles, known as “rooster battles” in Spanish—a perfect match for a chicken-centric brand.

When it comes to driving interest from a specific audience and creating something meaningful for them, partnering with the experts adds an invaluable touch of authenticity. With this in mind, we joined forces with renowned Mexican rapper Aczino, who composed an original song about the Kentucky Chicken Sandwich. We then invited everyone to follow his steps with a simple challenge: craft your finest rhymes and receive a 30% discount. In no time, the initiative sparked a rap frenzy across restaurants, drive-throughs, and social media platforms—amassing over a hundred million views and turning KFC into a three-day trending topic.

To amplify the campaign far and wide, our film experts produced a series of promotional music videos starring Aczino. We seamlessly incorporated the artist’s visual identity into the videos, blending it harmoniously with KFC’s signature color palette. This approach, combined with a powerful social strategy, proved to be the perfect recipe for viral success on TikTok. As fans were inspired to showcase their freestyle skills, professional rappers organically joined in, adding to the momentum. Brands across the world replicated the challenge, too, leveraging freestyle to promote cars, nails and even real estate—thus generating a snowball effect that made this KFC launch their most successful to date.