Snack! In The Face
- Brand
- KFC
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Sales
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- DT & Ogilvy Australia
Objective
KFC Australia wanted to lift awareness and sales of its snack menu among 16–24-year-old guys, whose afternoon cravings run on boredom more than hunger, and to do it through a direct, one-on-one channel rather than more TV and outdoor advertising. The brand also needed to drive traffic into stores during its weakest trading window, 2–5pm, and used the campaign to trial mobile couponing across its network for the first time, with a Facebook gifting mechanic built in to spread downloads organically.
Solution
Snack! In the Face is a free catapult game in the vein of Angry Birds: players fling popcorn chicken across 18 levels split into three villain-themed lairs, dodging Professor Snackbot's obstacles to land each shot in Colonel Sanders' mouth. Clearing levels and daily challenges earns stars and achievements, which unlock any of 25 rewards, from a $1-off coupon to a free menu item. The main draw opens once a day: between 2pm and 5pm, players get 60 seconds to land five chicken pieces in the Colonel's mouth for a coupon good for a free snack at any of KFC's 600 Australian stores. A coupon a player doesn't want to use themselves can be gifted to a friend through Facebook Connect instead of going to waste.
Results
The app reached No. 1 on Australia's free iTunes chart and passed 300,000 downloads — 7% of the country's population — within six weeks of launch. The daily 2–5pm challenge gave away 2,500 coupons a day, 140,000 free snacks in total, redeemable across 600 KFC stores nationwide. Snack sales rose 20% over the campaign's first four weeks (21% by KFC's account at the 2014 relaunch), with reach equivalent to 4.85 million TV commercial views.
- 1
Players download "KFC Snack! In the Face" for free on iOS or Android.
- 2
The app prompts a Facebook Connect login, used to share scores and gift unclaimed prizes to friends.
- 3
A map presents three themed villain lairs run by Professor Snackbot; each level traps popcorn chickens that the player must deliver to Colonel Sanders waiting at the far end.
- 4
The core loop is a physics slingshot: the player aims and launches a popcorn chicken across the level, steering it past lasers, circular saws, and lair-specific hazards like electro-jellyfish, robo-sharks, water jets, totem portals, and bugsaws, scoring stars for landing it in the Colonel's mouth.
- 5
Eighteen levels span the three lairs, with difficulty and the value of level-completion prizes increasing as the player advances.
- 6
Completing achievements unlocks rewards from a pool of 25, ranging from small discounts like "$1 off" or "2-for-1" up to a free product.
- 7
A separate daily challenge opens only between 2pm and 5pm local time: the player has 60 seconds to land five chickens in the Colonel's mouth, and success generates a mobile coupon (one of 2,500 given out that day) redeemable for a free snack at any KFC Australia restaurant.
- 8
An unredeemed prize can be gifted to a friend through Facebook along with a boast of the score, giving the friend a free snack and a reason to download the game.
