Redcactus adds design spice to KFC brand in huge US market

MEDIA RELEASE

November 2012

Redcactus adds design spice to KFC brand in huge US market

Auckland-based branding agency Redcactus is celebrating a memorable coup, with the publication of Col. Harland Sanders – The Autobiography of the Original Celebrity Chef which it designed for US-based fast food giant KFC.

Redcactus landed the Col. Sanders project after it was asked to present design ideas to KFC’s US Chief Marketing Officer.

Following this, in January this year the company was asked to work on KFC’s massive US-wide domestic consumer branding account across strategic branding and packaging projects.

The book is based on the Colonel’s original manuscript, which was unearthed earlier this year by an employee going through the company’s Kentucky archives, causing huge publicity.

While the decades old manuscript contains a host of the Colonel’s recipes, fans of the world famous secret 11 herbs and spices KFC is best known for are not among them.

Just 2280 hard copies of the exclusive book were printed in Auckland amid tight security and shipped to the United States.

“The hard copy editions are for KFC VIPs only,” says Redcactus’ managing director Chris Chong. “The heightened security meant all proofs and print trials had to be destroyed. The printing plates are currently securely stored and will be sent to the US to be put into the KFC vault in Louisville, Kentucky.

“We also had to certify that the first 11 copies printed and to come off the binding machines were tagged, as they will go into the vault, alongside the Colonel’s secret 11 herbs and spices recipe,” says Chong.

“Our team did great work on this project and we are incredibly proud to be part of a major milestone for one of the world’s most recognised brands.”

Redcactus has been the consumer branding agency for Yum! Restaurants International-KFC Australia for the past eight years, and was successful enough to build off this relationship and work with the global branding team in Dallas in 2010/2011, and now on the KFC US business based in Louisville. This places Redcactus in the unique position of being one of the key creative talents tasked with building KFC’s consumer branding in the US and Australia.

“Been tasked with the responsibility of working on both the Australian and US businesses has been a result of long-term relationships based on trust, experience and creative delivery,” says Chong. “We have built up a strong knowledge of the brand, and this shows through in our work.”

“However, there is no time to sit and admire our own work. Designing this book raised the profile of Redcactus among KFC’s leadership team, and so does the great creative work we do in Australia and the US. This is an incredibly exciting time for our agency”.

“With a company as big, and a brand as high profile as KFC, it’s all about our continued performance and creative excellence. We know we have to keep coming up with the big ideas.”

Redcactus recently entered the Pentawards 2012 – a worldwide packaging design competition – winning creative recognition for all three projects it submitted, including a silver trophy for Yum! Restaurants International-KFC Australia, and bronzes for Goodman Fielder New Zealand and Sanitarium New Zealand.

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