KFC is a huge brand, with a massive budget, backed by a big-hitting London creative agency. So, when we won the KFC One Minute Briefs competition to advertise the I Love You Bacon Burger, we were understandably “finger-lickin’” ecstatic.

We’re a small digital marketing agency. We know that. And we’re cool with it. In fact, there’s nothing at all wrong with our size. As any understanding partner will tell you, “It doesn’t matter.” Actually, we see it as an advantage.

You see, as a small team, we’re infinitely more agile and responsive than a larger agency. There’s less red tape. Fewer hoops to jump through. More autonomy. Greater trust. Because, ultimately, we’re working for each other. Of course, we really work for our clients, but what I mean is, we’ve got each other’s backs, because our clients’ success, and by extension ours, completely depends upon being able to deliver the goods, regardless.

So, we all chip in with every aspect of the business. Copywriting, design, SEO, social media, email marketing, there isn’t an element of our offering to clients that can’t be handled by any single person on the team. Naturally, we all have our specialisms, but we’re pretty competent all-rounders too. And that’s harder to come by in a large agency. Which is why things can take longer.

How Is This Relevant to Fried Chicken?

Here’s the thing, chicken wing. Winning the I Love You Bacon Burger OMB proved that, not only are we, as a digital marketing agency, more agile and responsive than the big creative agencies, but we’re every bit just as good.

Our one-minute ad would not seem at all out of place on bus shelters, billboards, or anywhere in print. It could happily sit alongside the other concepts within the actual campaign. With substantially less ‘vegan-bashing’.

At Social INK, we specialise in social media and content marketing for brave brands and dynamic SMEs. But that doesn’t mean we’re not creative. It doesn’t mean we’re not able to craft exceptional creative concepts based on unique insight. And it doesn’t mean we can’t compete against the big boys for the big clients. In fact, it means the complete opposite. 

The space we work in, the areas we specialise in, are far more ephemeral than bus shelters and billboards. We need to think fast if our concepts are to gain any traction. Our winning ad for KFC is a case in point. 

The line, ‘Got Beef With Bacon?’ was shared on our Workplace Chat (we’re a distributed team so the internet is our office), was mocked up and posted online within a couple of minutes of its conception. That’s about as responsive as it gets.

Forget The Colonel’s Secret Recipe. You’ll struggle to find seven herbs and five spices at Social INK HQ. The secret to our success is, we’re freer. (Disclaimer: this doesn’t mean we work for free.) That’s how we batter the competition. And this success has been repeated consistently for big brands (and small) across social media, including large organisations like WWF as well as smaller, but equally significant, ones like City to Sea.

If there’s one thing that our KFC success has taught us (and everyone else), it’s that we may be small, but we pack one hell of a creative punch.