KFC LICENSES TEKKEN 7 & TRACKMANIA TURBO FOR KFC VERSUS E-SPORTS EVENT
LICENSING GLOBAL VIDEO GAMES FOR MULTI-CHANNEL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
BACKGROUND:
KFC and their creative agency, BHH London, recognised a growing trend in social conversations centring around the decline in split-screen gaming. The general theme of the conversations, which had increased 500% between 2015 and 2018, was that the evolving nature of video games had lost its nostalgic core: split-screen gaming with friends had been replaced by online play, meaning gaming had become more insular and less about social company. BHH London had also noticed organic conversations touching on the same topic within KFC’s online community, presenting the perfect opportunity for a brand-led live e-sports event to unite the gaming community.
THE CALL TO BORN:
KFC recruited four top YouTube gamers and four grime stars to battle it out in their e-sports event, which was to be live streamed on Facebook Live and Twitch, to win a lifetime supply of KFC chicken. With the event aimed at true gaming fans, the choice of video game was crucially important to the success or failure of the event - and that’s where Born Licensing stepped in. BHH London and KFC asked us to shortlist a selection of multiplayer games that were fun to play.
WHERE BORN LICENSING ADDED VALUE:
After negotiations, we secure the rights for KFC to feature the hit games Tekken 7 and TrackMania Turbo in their live gaming event, as well as working with Sony to secure PlayStation consoles to be used. With vast experience and expertise in licensing, we handled the contractual process to make it as smooth and speedy as possible for all involved, including the Rights Holders, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Ubisoft.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT:
As soon as we received the brief, we put our existing relationships with all major studios and entertainment Rights Holders to work and quickly put forward a list of suitable suggestions. Thanks to our experience, expertise and close contacts with Rights Holders, we save agencies time and money when developing creative approaches. After putting forward our suggestions, we began negotiations with the Rights Holders of the chosen games to begin agreeing terms.
THE LAUNCH & RESULTS:
Gamers Ali A, Clare Siobhan, MiniMinter and JMX, along with grime artists Big Narstie, P Money, Novelist and D Double E, paired up and competed in KFC’s live e-sports gaming event for the chance to win KFC for life. The ‘Colonel’s Couch’ was also created for the event, featuring bucket holders, refillable drinks, chip trays, built in speakers and wet wipe dispensers for dealing with greasy fingers.
The event was a huge success, reaching 2.7 million people and 87% of the identified target audience within 5 days. KFC confirmed that it achieved the highest level of organic reach ever for a KFC video.
THE EXPERIENCE
Being brought into the project early on allowed us to work alongside the creative agency, developing multiple ideas and exploring possibilities quickly and easily. Once the games had been secured we used our industry knowledge and expertise to keep the project on-track and ensure everyone was able to focus on their strengths.
BORN LICENSING’S OTHER CAMPAIGNS >
