In Canada, McDonald’s easily outdoes KFC in marketing spend, locations, and market share. But while McDonald’s is inarguably the leader in fast food, they aren’t the fried chicken leader - that’s KFC. So, when McDonald’s decided to launch the Chicken Big Mac, KFC wasn’t going to sit idly by without a fight.

Early reviews critiqued the Chicken Big Mac's small patties. And research

proved KFC's chicken was both better looking and better tasting. So, we ‘fixed’ the underwhelming Chicken Big Mac by replacing its meager patties with KFC’s mouth-watering KFC fried chicken.

Within minutes of the sandwich’s official Twitter launch, KFC responded with a simple Tweet: “There, we fixed it,” accompanied by an image of the upgraded Chicken Big Mac using KFC’s chicken and sparking a playful (and attention-grabbing) Twitter beef. We reposted it across KFC’s social channels, calling out McDonald’s underwhelming entry into the chicken wars.

But we didn’t stop there. We took the ‘fixed’ Chicken Big Mac to actual McDonald's

locations with truck-sized billboards parked in front of their golden arches. Then we added “The Big Fix '' to KFC’s secret menu, driving customers in-store to try KFC’s version of the Chicken Big Mac made entirely with KFC ingredients. We then partnered with prominent food influencers like @mukbangmaxwell who helped spread the word on social media, prompting Canadians to buy it and post their own reviews.

Our ambitious goal to hijack the conversation was met with an impressive 18x

increase in earned media compared to paid. The debate fueled a 72%

increase in social engagement while generating an 86% rise in positive brand perception

for KFC. Best of all, it had a remarkable impact on the business, boosting sales by 5.1%

and generating an impressive 2859% return on spend. And it was all done for only

$30,000 all in.

Despite McDonald's having more marketing dollars, locations, and social media followers, KFC successfully reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.