To celebrate the end of the summer of cricket this weekend KFC launched a Snap lens featuring the iconic buckethead.
The ‘open your mouth’ trigger saw flying chicken explode into fireworks; special commentary over the Snap lens came from Nova radio presenter Wippa and select snaps featured on KFC’s Twitter handle throughout the Final.
KFC, a Gold Partner of Cricket Australia, started its partnership with the sport in 2003. It also has the naming rights to the KFC T20 International and T20 Big Bash League.
KFC’s CMO Catherine Tan says: “This is the first time we have created a Snap lens in Australia for KFC, to coincide with the KFC BBL Final. We hope this will bring a new kind of joy to customers, employees, cricket and non-cricket fans alike – who doesn’t like fireworks and flying chicken?”
Group business director at KFC's media agancy MediaCom, Adele Burke, says the agency “strongly believes” in the value that the Snapchat platform offers KFC as a brand in reaching the ‘millennial’ audience
“The creative looks great and we’re excited to see reactions to the great work we’re putting into market,” burke says.
KFC’s creative agency is Ogilvy Sydney.
Bucketheads gained momentum during the 2013/14 Ashes series when KFC turned all its buckets Green and Gold. Tan says the demand for buckets has grown each year and over the 2016/17 KFC Big Bash, KFC handed out a quarter of a million buckets to fans at stadium and restaurants across Australia.
“Bucketheads have become so synonymous with cricket that this year even The Colonel appeared prominently on all ground signage across the Big Bash, proudly wearing a bucket,” Tan says.
The KFC Big Bash League is on track to smash average attendance, ratings and revenue records as more advertisers and sponsors flock to the T20 competition than ever before. This has helped BBL broadcaster Ten lift premium advertising revenue by 20% on last year and attract new advertisers and sponsors to the code. Check out our interview with Ten’s director of revenue and client partnerships Rod Prosser.
In August last year McDonald’s was the first brand to sponsor a lens in Australia that turned users into a life-sized burger.
Then, online retailer SurfStitch made its Snapchat Lens debut as part of its summer campaign.
The lens put the user in a beach scene and allowed them to get barrelled in a wave.
Previously, the lens feature has been used in Australia to promote movies including The Peanuts Movie and Batman V Superman. But since Snapchat launched in Australia, more and more brands have been getting board with the filter ad offering.
In November Snapchat revealed it has four million active daily users in Australia and 150 million users globally. This is the first time the company, recently rebranded to Snap Inc, had released local user figures to the public.
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