There's another wave of Children's Day? Adults fight with children for toys at KFC

Through the hot sales and consumer response of the co-branded toy package launched by KFC and Sanrio, the article analyzes KFC's marketing techniques such as co-branding with popular IPs and secondary creative marketing. It is recommended for students who want to understand KFC's marketing strategy.

"I didn't get it, it was sold out when I clicked in", "The mini program crashed and I couldn't open it at all", said my friends. Early in the morning of May 20, the co-branded toy meal set of KFC and Sanrio for Children's Day was sold out soon after it was put on the shelves.

Yes, that's right. On May 20, KFC's Children's Day meal was snapped up by a group of adults. Of course, although many "adults" couldn't get it, the ones who couldn't get it were the children who ate the Children's Day meal.

As a marketing "master", on the eve of Children's Day this year, KFC unsurprisingly chose to cooperate with classic anime IP again to launch co-branded toys, and the popularity is no less than in previous years.

In addition to launching co-branded toys with popular IPs, "Crazy Four Literature" is also one of KFC's popular marketing methods. Under the dual offensive of co-branded toys and "Crazy Four Literature", KFC is often criticized for being serious about marketing but not serious about making fried chicken.

But it is undeniable that through serious marketing, KFC has successfully "made friends" with consumers.

01 Keen on IP co-branded toys, selling toys to adults

It is reported that the co-branded toys between KFC and Sanrio include a Kuromi diamond-patterned handbag, a Hello Kitty submarine fan, a Big Eared Dog coconut kettle, a Pudding Dog rocking music box and a Gudetama suitcase.

The oversized size and practical toy design, as well as the addition of elements such as hamburgers, coconuts, fans, and the super influence of Sanrio IP are enough to make children and even adults crazy.

With the slogans of "a little childish for children, but just right for adults" and "adults don't make choices, they want them all", this joint meal was sold out. During the rush to buy, the KFC mini program crashed several times, and the topic of "KFC toys" also jumped to the top of the Weibo hot search list and remained on the list for more than 7 hours.

According to the data of this topic, the number of discussions on this topic reached 22,000, which is even much higher than the total number of readings of the topic, and the number of original posters reached 8,671.

iBrandi also felt that some consumers were being dominated by KFC in this topic. People who bought it said:

"How did you know I have a full set of Sanrio toys?" Shocked, one person angrily ate three KFC meals just to... Is there any kind-hearted person who can help me get the KFC Children's Day meal? The meal is free for you to eat. Riding a bicycle to get toys under the scorching sun, I clearly went to seek advice. I have collected all 5 co-branded items, and I am complete...

Of course, there are also many people who didn’t buy it and are complaining:

Can we limit the purchase to four per person? All of them were bought by scalpers. At least the Children's Day joint should ensure that children can buy them in stores. KFC stores sell fewer toys than Xianyu. The Children's Day set meal was sold out on 520. They are using hunger marketing again.

In addition to Weibo, Xiaohongshu is also full of related content. A widely circulated post was hotly commented on by netizens: "I'm furious", "Ready for a big fight", "One meal includes two toys", "I rode my bike home happily", and "It's so easy to forgive others."

As we all know, among all the joint ventures, KFC is best at cooperating with popular IPs. Unlike other catering brands, KFC is keen on developing toys. Launching IP joint-branded toys during various festivals has become an effortless marketing method for KFC.

For example, on Children's Day in 2021, KFC and Minions jointly launched four super-sized Minions toys, including Minions kettles, music boxes, etc.; on Children's Day in 2022, KFC and Pokémon jointly launched three toys, including the "hard-to-get" Psyduck music box and Pikachu music box, and Pikachu picnic kettle.

At the beginning of 2022, KFC and Dimoo, one of the six most popular IPs under Pop Mart, jointly launched a 35th anniversary blind box; on Christmas Day 2022, KFC and SpongeBob SquarePants launched four toy blind boxes, including SpongeBob SquarePants who changes his face in a second, Squidward who screams and clones, Mr. Krabs who turns into a pumpkin with his bare hands, and Patrick with his hands trapped.

Faced with the release of co-branded toys again and again, although many netizens have complained about the poor quality of KFC toys and deliberate hunger marketing, most people have commented that KFC's toys are cute, fun, and even cost-effective. Netizens have commented on KFC as being "very good at making toys."

Based on the opinions of netizens, iBrandi believes that KFC’s toys are indeed “something”.

First of all, the co-branded products KFC has chosen are all very popular anime IP characters. These characters themselves have a cute appearance that is recognized by people. Coupled with KFC's design, these toys look even more cute and vivid. Secondly, the most "sincere" thing is that these toys are also designed with practical and entertaining functions such as water cups and music boxes, rather than simply being a cute but useless decoration. Finally, the price, a 69.9 yuan children's double meal + an oversized toy, compared with other popular IP figures and blind boxes, it is difficult for consumers to complain that it is "expensive".

It is cute and practical, and it is a co-branded toy between KFC and Sanrio. It is also sold together with a children's double meal for only 69.9 yuan. Adults with basic purchasing power will naturally rush to buy it.

Although this toy combo has already been sold out, some netizens revealed that it will still be on sale on Children's Day. iBrandi believes that if this news is true, the traffic volume of KFC stores on Children's Day should be as high as that on May 20.

02Toys in the left hand, Crazy Four in the right hand may not be serious about making fried chicken, but it is definitely serious about marketing.

Joint marketing has become a common marketing method for many brands. Because of this, consumers are more or less accustomed to joint products, and the effect of joint marketing on brands is becoming less and less valuable. However, iBrandi believes that it has to be admitted that KFC is really good at joint marketing .

First of all, the IPs selected by KFC themselves have certain co-branded value.

IPs such as Sanrio, Pokémon, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Minions have been around for many years, some of them even launched at the end of the 20th century, and are known as the memories of three generations of people. Fans of all ages have accumulated considerable commercially valuable popularity for these IPs, which can also be given to KFC, and can even have a superimposed effect on KFC's own popularity, bringing fresh consumer power to KFC.

Pop Mart has a profound trendy and young brand culture. The consumption of this type of IP often represents the consumers' own values. The setting of blind box + "hidden version" not only satisfies the curiosity of consumers, but also makes Pop Mart easily collectible. The joint blind box of KFC and Pop Mart is naturally more collectible. At the same time, the young and trendy brand culture and the blind box set game are also what KFC needs.

Secondly, these IPs also have room for secondary creation.

The positioning of multi-field entertainment brands has allowed these IPs to enter multiple fields such as games, movies, and peripheral products. At the same time, these characters are more three-dimensional and vivid, and more deeply rooted in people's hearts. This also determines the brand's ability to innovate co-branded products. It is easier to design new scenes, actions, or inject new elements into IP images, which is more popular with consumers. More importantly, these IPs are easy for consumers to use for secondary creation.

At the end of May 2022, after the launch of three joint toys between KFC and Pokémon, the Psyduck Music Box became popular on the entire Internet with its cute appearance and magical music.

The most popular way to play is to post creative texts on Pikachu's swaying hands. With the continuous creation of netizens, Pikachu's left hand "gets rich", the right hand "gets rich overnight", the left hand "thesis", the right hand "defense". Netizens even incorporated the plot of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", with the left hand "I want to report" and the right hand "Empress Xi is having an affair". For a time, it was "hard to find a duck" in channels including KFC stores and second-hand e-commerce platforms. Purchasing and reselling on behalf of others also caused the value of Pikachu to soar, even doubling to several hundred yuan.

In response to the popularity of Psyduck, KFC learned from its experience and launched a Pudding Dog music box with similar swinging movements in the co-branded toys launched this year. The magical music and the pudding dog's rolling and swinging body made Pudding Dog the most popular toy in the same series.

Similarly, this pudding dog music box has also been re-created by netizens. The pudding dog has been transformed into a swinging night light, hung with a label saying "I don't want to go to work" and placed in the office, etc.

Some netizens even discovered that Pudding Dog resembles the character "Biaozi" in the recent hit TV series "The Long Season", and some netizens even compared the former top-tier character Psyduck to a dance battle with Pudding Dog.

In addition, the Big Ear Dog Coconut Water Bottle has also been transformed into a hand sanitizer pump bottle by the almighty netizens, and the Kuromi Diamond Pattern Clutch has also been transformed into a crossbody bag...

Consumers share and discuss secondary creations of KFC toys, which lowers the threshold for participation in brand activities and invisibly brings brand popularity to KFC.

In addition to toys, KFC’s official use of the “Crazy Four Literature” joke also made netizens once again confirm that KFC not only “understands” collaborations, it also “understands” marketing.

Speaking of the KFC activity with the lowest threshold, "Crazy Thursday Literature" deserves it. In 2021, Crazy Thursday literature began to become popular. The primary form was "Do you know what day it is today? Today is Crazy Thursday". Under the crazy "output" of netizens, a situation was formed where everything could be "Crazy Thursday", and "Crazy Thursday Literature" was born.

At the beginning, this kind of literature was called "online begging", but as the number of participants increased, more and more netizens were brought into this "carnival", and Crazy Thursday literature also began its advanced journey. The low-level version starts with old Internet memes, bloody love, celebrity gossip, and suspense and reasoning. The more advanced version starts with current affairs, and finally ends with a "v me 50" twist.

With the spread of "viral" style, "Crazy Four" literature has gradually become a social currency, used to fill the gaps and awkwardness in chats. On social platforms, there are even accounts that focus on writing "Crazy Four" literature, which specialize in producing original "Crazy Four" literature.

Seeing that its own Crazy Thursday event had spawned online literature, KFC officials could no longer sit still and started to play with the memes.

In October 2021, KFC held a lottery event with the theme of "Expressing KFC's Crazy Thursday with Crazy Literature". Subsequently, KFC began to apply for the "Crazy Thursday" trademark, and netizens speculated that they wanted to turn "Crazy Thursday Literature" into an IP.

Since "v我50" is homophonic to "vivo50", KFC also cooperated with vivo to hold a lucky draw by purchasing a specific vivo mobile phone, with prizes such as "free four meals a year" and "v我50 joint gift box". In February 2023, KFC launched the "v我50" meal, priced at 50 yuan...

In the view of iBrandi, from a communication perspective, Psyduck, Pudding Dog toys, and "Crazy Four Literature" all have magical and addictive super-communication capabilities, and from a marketing perspective, the co-branded toys with popular IPs, the official use of the "Crazy Four" meme, etc., all show that KFC is really good at marketing.

03 Conclusion

Through multiple collaborations with popular IPs, the use of "Crazy Four" memes, and other marketing, it is not difficult to see that this leading fast food chain company, which has been established for decades, is facing weakening consumer power for its own products and intensified industry competition. In the process, it wants to maintain its youthfulness through collaborations with popular IPs, secondary creation of joint products, interaction with young people and memes, etc., in order to achieve the goal of "making friends" with consumers in depth and continuously.

Judging from the IPs that KFC has collaborated with in the past, iBrandi boldly speculates that KFC’s next collaboration will still be with a popular IP with high national recognition, and will still be snapped up by both adults and children.

Author: Lumin

Source: WeChat public account "iBrandi Pinchuang (ID: 1083454)"