KFC Face from Space, Yum!

In the Monday's Guardian KFC was featured for winning the MEGA (Media Guardian Innovation Awards) for best PR campaign. The campaign was concerned with making the rebranding of KFC into a "global talking point", as it became the first brand visible from space.

What the whole campaign was basically about was to create a record-breaking 87,500 square feet, updated Colonel Sander's logo, in the Nevada dessert. Allbussines.com states that the logo featured Sanders in a new costume, featuring an apron instead of his traditional suit, in order to symbolizes the home-style culinary heritage of the brand. All to remind customers that KFC is always in the kitchen cooking delicious, high-quality, freshly prepared chicken by hand, just the way Colonel Sanders did 50 years ago.

What is interesting about this campaign is that it was so simple, only carried out online and attracted enormous amounts of media coverage. According to the team behind the campaign they made it so simple since the only thing KFC had really done was to update Colonel's look, and since he is already a global icon there was nothing to do besides go galactic...

The campaign was a massive success, with 230 000 people accessing the KFC website on the launch day alone. According to the Guardian the campaign was featured in media, like for example, NBC's Today Show, Jay Leno and David Letterman, and was also featured in many different UK media channels. The advertising costs for the same amount of coverage have been estimated to be $45m.

By using online channels to promote the campaign, especially through social media websites, the PR team was harnessing the power of the web in order to attract customer attention. Customers was encouraged to go to the KFC website, and they could also zoom in the logo from outer space via Google earth. The zoom application, videos of the building of Colonel's face and a shot of the complete logo were also seeded on to site like YouTube, BoingBoing and Google Video.

Some of the motivations from the Guardian jury were that "The face from space stunt was a bold idea for a global audience with the rebrand key message coming through strongly. It enabled the brand to gain worldwide attention without the complication of language." Another one was "But the most significant achievement of this campaign was that it succeeded in gaining reams of publicity around the world, and became a talking point as all the best PR ideas do. It was an incredibly simple idea that managed to demonstrate the global power of PR."

The fact that the campaign was covered globally by media in, for example the US, the UK and China, shows how incredibly effective and important online media channels are for a successful PR campaign...

5p, come on!!

In the beginning of FebruaryM&S announced that from the 6th of May they will start charging their customers 5p per plastic bag when buying groceries, which I think is a splendid idea. In sweden, where I come from, supermarkets has always charged customers for both plastic and paper bags, and it does work, people do recycle their bags. The telegraph.co.uk states in an article that this move is part of M&S's drive to improve its ecological credentials. The company has launched an animated video on their website motivating their decision and advising customers on how they can help to save the environment.

In relation to M&S' move the BBC news website has posted a set of articles and videos arguing that annually 17bn plastic bags are given out in the UK, which is something that has disastrous effects on both the environment and animal life. In this particular video they have chosen to exemplify the effects of plastic bag waste by showing the lethal affects they have on the leatherback turtles, which is something that many other newspapers also have picked up on. I think that using the turtle to personalise the story is a very swift move, as anyone who watch the video, or read an article on the issue, will most likely think twice before wasting their plastic bags again.

Think twice..

M&S is not the first to take action against plastic bags however. Heather Suttie is a Scottish radio personality who have started the 'Say No To Plastic' campaign, and have got over 1200 people to sign her online petition aiming to ban plastic bags. Allmediascotland.com has featured her in an article stating that has done a handful of appearances in the media, where she has talked about her campaign, including on the Today programme on BBC Radio Four. Heather has also started a group on Facebook where she is urging people to sign her petition, and also promoting her "range of 100% bio-degradeable, eco friendly, natural and carbon neutral jute bags. The cool, hip and non toxic alternative to plastic." So far the group has 324 members. The campaign has achieved quite a lot of coverage in the media, and Heather herself has been interviewed in the BBC videos concerning tha plastic bag ban.

Go Heather, GO!!

This idea of charging for the plastic bags has received many divided reactions. Some people, like me, think that it is a really good idea and are prepared to sacrifise the money in order to do some good for the environment. Other people, that are obviously not very concerned about the damage they have on the environment, think that plastic bags definitley should be included in the price. But the fact that a major company like M&S launch a campaign of this sort have achived major media coverage, and has furthermore been a very good way for other campaigns, like for examples Heather's, to get lots of coverage for their cause. It has also stirred a massive public discussions, where opinions are very much divided.

If it means that, by paying 5p for a bag, its possible to save the lives of even just a few animals, I think we should all be prepared to pay this...