hot, textured, fiery combustions have the ability to dazzle us in ways that chicken breasts from KFC just can’t. fire is life. fire is death. but here in these ogilvy & mather hong kong ads, fire is replaced with photoshopped shots of spicy fried chicken.

KFC
all images courtesy of ogilvy & mather hong kong

 

 

the metaphor is sparked to life by associating the chicken with hot imagery that we immediately recognize as explosive and epic — a rocket ship, a super hero squadron, a race car. the undecorated, generic versions of these subjects allow the product, the fiery KFC chicken, to be the main hero of each story. in terms of execution, the simple, yet surreal series definitely makes print-ad readers look twice.

KFC

 

 

adweek editor, david griner, says that the beauty of the campaign is in its simplicity. ‘there’s not much to the concept, spotlighted by campaign brief asia, but in this case that’s a good thing. once you get the concept, you get the concept and can just sit back and appreciate the craft.’

KFC

 

 

project info:

 

agency: ogilvy & mather hong kong
client: kfc hong kong
chief creative officer: reed collins
creative director / business partner: john koay
creative director: matt nisbet
associate creative director: kai fung chan
art director: john koay
account manager: stella fung
project manager: jennifer to
photographer: illusion, bangkok
illustrator: illusion, bangkok
retoucher: illusion, bangkok