ABOUT

BACKGROUND:
Almost every brand is trying to create a deeper connection with a music-obsessed and digitally-connected youth market. But how does a brand like KFC attract and entertain this audience without undermining their core business?

The answer for us lay in combining the youth’s love of music and tech with the unpublished music scene: there are many local artists still battling to get the exposure their talent deserves.

We combined a standard fast-food table with bone-conductive technology and the music of unsigned artists to create The Soundbite Table: a one-of-a-kind music platform that allows us to publish local music right in-front of our music loving audience while they eat at our restaurants.

CREATIVE IDEA:
The audience listens by placing their elbows on the surface giving them an immersive music experience without disturbing anyone else in store.

Part fast food table and part music platform, our design incorporates bone conductive technology which uses unique speakers to transmit sound waves up your arms and into your ears.

Printed with digital ink, the surface illustrations that covered the table became an interface, allowing you to interact using buttons printed onto the table surface. This means spilling your order on the table isn’t an issue.

A table like this deserves a fresh, unique playlist, so we found local unsigned musicians, and used the tables to put their music in front of our audience.

To extend the experience further, users could pair their smartphones to the table, and get artist info, allowing them to share their favourite track via social media.

THE STRATEGY
The strategy was simple: investigate the convergence of youth culture, the in-store environment, music and digital.

After exploring this territory by observing and engaging with the youth market in-store and in the real world, we measured any possible solution to see how it could live in a market saturated with music content (from tv talent shows to online distribution).

Innovation is a big part of the Youth Market approach at KFC so this step was vital to differentiate the experience and ensure we were connected to the brand promise.

EXECUTION
Once we had the idea of the table, we had to source the various elements and repurpose them to serve the idea. The prototype was considered and tested using input from the KFC tech and deployment team. This was done in-house before deploying in-store.


RESULTS
The roll-out included significant coverage in local and international press, as well as across various KFC platforms. The word-of-mouth generated by the musicians and the public across social media was overwhelmingly positive.

As a result, more than 50 franchisees have requested their own tables and KFC China are investigating a roll-out in their youth-focused stores.