KFC & Oprah, UnThink The Activation

I'm sure you've heard about the Oprah/KFC mess. It's a classic example of a huge lack of communication and strategy.

To promote a new product, grilled chicken products, KFC's agency of record Draftfcb Chicago created a multichannel campaign called “UNThink”which included digital, mobile, print, TV and out-of-home ads.

On May 4, KFC announced on Oprah, that anyone who downloaded a coupon within a two-day period would get two free pieces of grilled chicken, two sides and a biscuit!

Needless to say, the KFC stores were not able to handle the mass of people who not only downloaded the coupons, but also copied them. People got angry when their local store either didn't deliver or didn't have the capacity to handle the response. Finally, it turned into a disaster for KFC and, I think Oprah.

They didn't anticipate such a response. Why not? Where was Oprah in all of this? Based on her track record, KFC should have known that they would be deluged with a huge response.

KFC should have shared their plan with Oprah's team. I have a feeling that they would have been able to come up with a stronger strategy to meet the demand.

Take away: You can have a great idea with a corporate partner, but if you can't implement flawlessly, you will either lose that partner of lose your reputation with your fans.

In this case, KFC lost not only Oprah's fans, but their own. Boy, they really did "UnThink" this one.