KFC SG's french fries take leave to 'find themselves', Popeyes adds to the spice

KFC Singapore is officially replacing its side orders of french fries with wedges due to the global supply shortage and has given wedges a warm welcome on social media by announcing that French Fries "will be away on annual leave to find themselves".

Together with its newly appointed social media agency Arena Media, KFC decided to call its new wedges its "freelancer" and the wedges have been given two nicknames - Cheese and Golden Cheddar Wedges - with the second more suited for those who are feeling extra snacky. Interestingly, wedges enjoys meditation and trying out the latest fashion.

"Fret not! Our French Fries will be back soon, so in the meantime, please get acquainted with the temporary replacement - Wedges," KFC said on Facebook and Instagram. The Instagram post had 1.1k likes while Facebook saw 96 likes, 35 comments and 38 shares at the time of writing.

 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc4WuMtDjGw/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y

According to Juliana Lim, senior director, marketing and food innovation at KFC Singapore, said the company has always sought to inject fun and humour with its fan engagements. "With this announcement, we wanted to introduce our wedges in a playful manner that people could relate to in their daily lives," she added. 

Meanwhile, with poaching being a common phenomenon in our industry, the "freelancer"  has also caught the attention of Popeyes Singapore which commented: "Wait...y'all are getting time off?"

Shortly after, Popeyes published an Instagram post with a spoof headline from Potatoship that read: "Colonel's French Fries will be away on annual leave to 'find themselves'" accompanied by an image of Popeyes' Cajun Fries. Of course, KFC didn't want to miss out on the fun and responded in kind: "Fries taste best when they’re not burnt out!" Continuing the banter, Popeyes said: "Agreed, they also taste best when they're available."

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc5H60uBDf9/

Ben Klitus, GM for Popeyes APAC, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the campaigns done by Popeyes US completely break through social media clutter with their witty one liners and tweets. "As we scale operations in APAC ensuring everyone ‘loves that chicken’ an equally important priority is to build brand love," he added.

Meanwhile, Tanushri Rastogi, marketing lead for Popeyes APAC added: "We’re working on bringing the sassiness and the legacy of Popeyes to our local markets. When we came across the post by KFC Singapore on Instagram, our internal Popeyes team immediately got together to work out a response. The fries shortage isn’t new news and it was a brilliant opportunity for us to ride on."