KFC MY responds to fan's witty poem requesting for thigh parts in delivery order

KFC Malaysia recently surprised a customer who ordered its three-piece signature combo by not only fulfilling his order but writing him a balas pantun (poem response). According to screenshots circulating online, a customer by the name of Darryl Ezreen wrote a poem for KFC under the delivery request section.

The poem read: "If KFC has a million followers, I'm one of them. If KFC has 10 fans, I'm one of them. If KFC only has one fan, it's me. If KFC has no fans, this means I'm no longer in this world. If the world is against KFC, I'm against the world. I will love KFC until my last breath. Please give me thigh parts."

Ezreen not only received his three thigh parts, as seen from his Facebook post, but also impressed the fried chicken chain with his creativity. In response, KFC thanked its dear fans in its pantun for "sweet words that glow" and for choosing the brand, adding that it is still here today because of their support. "If the world is against KFC, you are the first on our side. If you are no longer with us, our spirit of fire will be lost," the pantun added.

https://twitter.com/KFCmalaysia/status/1411985947348983810/photo/1

Speaking to A+M, KFC Malaysia's CMO Chan May Ling said it is a brand for the masses and it usually gets plenty of social interactions on social media, especially its Facebook page. This case was particularly unique for KFC because it has never received a pantun as part of a special delivery request. Hence, it decided to respond since it was impressed by the love that the consumer has for KFC.

"There are no set rules on how we should respond because we want to be as topical as possible. If it is something that is trending or positive, we will respond," Chan added.

She explained that KFC does not set aside a specific budget to fulfill special delivery requests. Instead, tries to fulfill them as they come along. At a store level, it also has an exchange policy for chicken parts and KFC will do its best to honour those requests should customers ask.

"We did this more for positive brand impact on social media since the penetration for those platforms are high in Malaysia. We do have a team that crawls social media for anything that is topical so we do not lose sight of today's youths and still remain relevant," she added.

Reprise Digital MD Stanley Clement told A+M that being a brand on social, it is absolutely important for KFC to engage with customers and fans on a personal level. Clearly in this situation, a fan has expressed their love for the brand and it would have been unfair if the love is not reciprocated, he explained.

"We always are on the lookout for opportunities to engage with the community as much as we can. KFC fans are witty, fun and real, and it is great to know that we are an ecosystem that recognises each other," he said.

This is also part of a two-way conversation between the brand and the consumers. Through these engagements too, Clement said consumers know they are being heard and that they can reach out to KFC. "In this latest one, we just wanted to share the love," he added.

Separately, KFC's Chan said the brand is focusing on various product innovations and launches, which occur every four to five weeks. The team spends plenty of time and effort to ensure that its operations are running smoothly especially during the various lockdowns. For National Fried Chicken day on 6 July, KFC rolled out a gamification initiative on its app that offered consumers a token with every RM20 worth of purchase. Upon receiving the token, customers have to shake their phones to stand a chance to win more drumlets and redeem prizes. 

Since the game's launch a few days' back, Chan said its app has seen a 37% increase in daily average users and a 25% transaction increase. "This is part of our ambition to carry out more digital engagements with customers," Chan explained. She joined the team in February this year from Digi, replacing Angelina Villanueva who took on a regional role at KFC Asia. Chan currently leads the marketing team in continuously driving KFC's brand growth and driving its market leadership. She told A+M previously that her vision is to accelerate digitalisation and make data-driven decisions to drive growth and leadership.

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