This July 4th had an overall somber mood, but brands tried to put a positive spin on it and sell hats/sunscreen/chicken.
KFC x Johnny Knoxville.
KFC worked with Johnny Knoxville to create a PSA called “Finger Lickin’ Good.” The spot connects KFC’s slogan to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that says one in three firework injuries affects fingers and hands.
Knoxville delivers the safety tips (while barely following his own advice) in a large, very flammable field of grass. The spot also promotes the new Jackass film, so there is a LOT of cross-promotion packed in here.
The Real Story: They hired the guy who’s made a career from injuring himself for their PSA on how not to injure yourself. Kinda dumb, but I love that KFC didn’t go all Americana with it (we would have hated that).
Side note: KFC recently reworked their logo. Looks like they’re really trying to move away from the idea that the Colonel’s bowtie is his teeny tiny body.
Columbia Sportswear "Expedition Impossible"
Columbia Sportswear took out a full page ad in the New York Times to highlight a letter from their CEO Tim Boyle. The letter dared flat-earthers to find the edge of the earth. The prize if they did would be full ownership of the company.
To back the dare legally, they registered an entity called “The Company, LLC” with the Oregon Secretary of State. The fine print of the competition ruled out “a clifftop in Seattle” and “your buddy Dave legally changing his name to ‘The Edge.’”
The campaign took home 10 Lions at Cannes.
The Real Story: This is super clever. I do hope they do a part 2 where Columbia sends a group of adventurers to the “edge of the earth.” Feels like a great opportunity to now get the Columbia products out in the cold to show the vastness of the wilderness.
KitKat "The Heist"
A truck carrying 400,000 KitKat bars was stolen in transit from Nestlé's factory in central Italy to Poland, a few weeks before Easter. The bars were part of KitKat's first season as F1's official chocolate partner. VML London helped Nestlé turn the theft into a campaign. They issued a statement confirming the theft, then launched a digital barcode tracker inviting consumers to check whether their bar was among the ones that were stolen.
The social post pulled 333,000 likes on X and 340,000 on Instagram. The campaign took the PR Grand Prix at Cannes, along with four Gold Lions and four Silver Lions.
The Real Story: I never believed the theft of these bars was real. I still don’t believe it was real. The whole thing feels like a PR stunt. Who knows, but it did help them win awards…
If you’re new here, I write a monthly serialized novel called Everything is Advertising, about a burned-out Creative Director and his cynical team that accidentally create QAnon through a viral marketing campaign. If you like that kind of thing, you can start at Part One and catch up from there.
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