By Tori Preston | Miscellaneous | February 23, 2018 |
By Tori Preston | Miscellaneous | February 23, 2018 |
While a crisis may be bad for business, it can prove to be a boon for enterprising marketing and social media departments. And arguably there is no bigger business emergency than trying to run a fried chicken empire when you’ve run out of chicken. That, friends, is what American export KFC has been dealing with in the UK and Ireland this week, when a problem with its supply chain forced the company to close half of the 900 outlets it maintains in Britain. As they put it, “we’ve got the chicken, we’ve got the restaurants, but we’ve just had issues getting them together.”
It’s one thing to have egg on your face in front of your customers — but how you handle it is what separates the lieutenants from the Colonels. Ugh, fine, I’ll stop with the puns and leave them to the professionals. Because that’s what the KFC social media team has proved itself to be this week, as it keeps consumers apprised of the situation via some clever and honest wordplay.
The Colonel is working on it. pic.twitter.com/VvvnDLvlyq
— KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) February 17, 2018
The Colonel has an update…ðŸ“🛣🚦
— KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) February 19, 2018
More info - https://t.co/mLELSs6TaY pic.twitter.com/WEOz6jExHC
There's gossip in the hen house, here's the facts…
— KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) February 21, 2018
*UPDATE: Now none of our team members will lose out financially this week. pic.twitter.com/8F6ipUvIuc
Happy Fry-day ðŸ—😴 pic.twitter.com/E2DOxiznH0
— KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) February 23, 2018
But perhaps their finest work was saved for an ad that ran in Britain today…
FCK
— James Herring (@itsjamesherring) February 23, 2018
Perfectly pitched apology ad from @KFC_UK pic.twitter.com/c0hHjoaqgq
Now, if only they’d print up some commemorative “FCK” buckets to celebrate the return of the bird…