QSR titan KFC has created impressive work across much of the world’s most populous continent, carving out a significant position in the market; at Spikes Asia, Annabel Fribence, CMO of KFC Asia Central described the process.

Marketers who don’t deal well with change, “don’t enjoy the pace at which we are moving”, said Fribence, in comments reported by WARC. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: Six effective marketing tips from KFC Asia)

The company conducts what it calls “sandbox meetings” on a weekly basis with a multi-discipline team that spans operations, supply chain, marketing and data analysis functions. Through these meetings, the team is able to question, hypothesise, and test. This allows dynamism in chasing a certain vision.

Fribence admitted that multi-channel content is still an issue for the brand, noting that in many markets across Asia, there is prolific content production across all channels.

“Basically, every channel that consumers are touching, they are building creative for. The production budgets are getting completely decimated by the number of iterations they are building,” she said.

Though video is often the first channel to occupy a brand’s thoughts, she noted the region’s particular reliance on different channels. “I say to my team that it is not far-fetched to think that for many consumers in Singapore or India, their only engagement with KFC is through Deliveroo.”

Fribence believes that it is the marketing function’s role in the business to push, be creative and brave in its endeavours.

“We need to be the pirates in the organisation. If marketing is not close to being fired, then we are not playing our role,” she said.

“The finance team is not going to do it. The supply chain team is not going to do it. We are meant to be the cultural heartbeat of innovation.”

Sourced from WARC