Turning to automation to dial up consumer empathy: Working with KFC to lower costs, improve ad performance and increase understanding of the end customer

“Working with Automated Creative resulted in KPIs far exceeding our expectations. It also helped us get closer to the customer.” - Jack Hinchliffe, Marketing Director, KFC UK & Ireland

Results - 193% improvement on performance benchmark

Working with KFC, Automated Creative was tasked to drive down the cost-per-install of their app from Facebook ads and to deliver consumer insight into which triggers drove performance. AC also worked to optimise an already incredible successful OLV campaign - Craveable Core.

The approach?

For Craveable Core, we used social listening to understand the trends around social conversations about takeaway food and built an emotional landscape that influenced KFC’s digital marketing strategy. On mobile ordering, we systematically tested all of the different visual, messaging, and app features to get people to download their app.

Using our proprietary tool, we created over 100 online ads that reflected social conversations. We delivered insight into what consumer triggers led to downloads, while also enabling KFC to react in-flight and adjust their advertising campaign with real-time feedback. This created an ongoing loop, using cheaper media to test what would go into the more expensive media.

With our unique blend of social listening + automation + traditional ad creative, we were able to improve performance AND generate new consumer insights from campaign data. Combining agency skillsets with adtech and data led to creating ads that reflect the wants, needs and desires of the client’s audience - at scale. 

The result? A 193% improvement on performance benchmark for mobile ordering app, as well as a Craveable Core campaign that proved 45% cheaper than KFC’s business-as-usual advertising.

And that’s not all… for Craveable Core, we also achieved:

  • 52.2% more site traffic than BAU

  • 120% above CTR target

  • 21,744 more site visits than BAU for the same media spend

Our reactive, nimble approach to digital marketing enabled KFC to become more “human” and more efficient, while gathering invaluable insight about their customers and adjusting their messaging during an ad campaign for the first time.

And here’s what the client had to say about it:

“Turning to automation helped us be more human and develop more empathy to our customers. Automated Creative helped us bring a performance mindset to the creative, while adding brand rigour and craft to our performance marketing. We didn’t replace the creative, we optimised it with a continuous feedback loop that delivered results far beyond our expectations.”

(Jack Hinchliffe, Marketing Director, KFC UK & Ireland)

You can watch Jack talking about our work together here.