KFC: Turning clicks into bricks at Ladakh

As part of its #KFCWishBucket campaign, the fast food chain has helped construct libraries and playgrounds in schools located in some remote villages of Ladakh.

KFC India donned Santa's cap for Ladakhi school children as part of its #KFCWishBucket Campaign, that was first launched in December last year. Through Twitter, children could tell the brand what they wanted as a Christmas present.

Almost a year after the campaign began, 17000 ft Foundation, an NGO that works with schools in the Ladakh region, tweeted asking for help in building recreational infrastructure for the children there.

A team from KFC India travelled to Leh, and onward to Khaltse, where it helped set up a library and a playground at the Jamyang Khaltse Lamdon School, and playgrounds at two other schools in Kanji and Khangral, in Ladakh.

The brand also engaged with the local community through reading programs and interactive games, creating a fun and enabling learning experience. Attendees include: Devashish Dasgupta (director, corporate affairs, Yum! Restaurants), Dhruv Kaul (chief marketing officer of KFC India), 'Chef' Praneet (director, R&D, KFC India) and Kapil Grover (director, activation, KFC India).

Clarifying that there is no immediate plan to set up a KFC outlet in Ladakh, Dhruv Kaul, chief marketing officer, KFC India, says the initiative was aimed at positively impacting the lives of children in some of the remotely located schools of Ladakh. "We look forward to many more such avenues with this campaign in the future," he says.

The digital campaign was executed by Blink Digital.

To fetch the participation of netizens, KFC created a microsite to assimilate all incoming social media posts in support of the campaign. This is how people added "virtual bricks" to the libraries.

"We asked our fans on Twitter to be a part of this initiative and show their support by tweeting with the hashtag - #KFCWishBucket. As tweets started pouring in, a virtual library started building, brick by brick, on Ladakh's terrain on the microsite in real-time," explains Dooj Ramchandani, co-founder and creative director, Blink Digital.

The campaign first began in December last year, and has since garnered the support of celebrities like Rohan Bopanna, Soha Ali Khan and Virr Das, on Twitter. It has received 19 million impressions so far and has a 'fan growth rate' of 557 per cent. The campaign has received over 14, 000 tweets and 10, 000 re-tweets.

KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. It has over 300 restaurants across 81 cities. Some of KFC's popular dishes in India include Hot & Crispy chicken, Chicken Zinger, Veg Zinger, Rice Bowlz and the Krushers range of beverages.