Free Food Scores for KFC in Chicken Game

I report all the time on the clueless campaigns designed by big ad agencies. So it's only fair that I point to a successful one when it happens. Free food and a TV-to-web campaign by Interpublic Group's Foote Cone & Belding drove 103,000 people to claim coupons for free KFC Buffalo Snacker sandwiches, and drew 2.75 page views (usually about 10 times the number of unique visitors) to KFC's website, according to the Wall St Journal.

I guess people knew that when KFC says Buffalo, they mean chicken? I'd never know that: I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat anything that blinks.

The spot was designed to circumvent TIVO and other digital recorders that can skip commerdials. Only viewers who slowed down the ads and watched them frame by frame could view the "secret code" that they had to enter on the company website to get the coupon for the free food.

Dimly, ABC TV had rejected the ads, saying they contained subliminal content. Posted by BL Ochman

hat tip to Henry Copeland

I've read alot lately on how companies are trying to figure out how to deal with the TIVO-like reality that now exists.

I like the way it was handled as it gives the viewer the power to make the decision and thus it makes it a part of "customization" of ads in my opinion.

What seems to be a huge part of this success is that viewers, by being given a choice, don't seem to feel interrupted with, but rather invited. The response speaks for itself.