So, KFC wants to start a Gen Z ambassador program? How do we do that? What does it look like? Spicy chicken and lemonade needs help to sell.

Freberg discusses ambassador programs in detail this week, explaining their roles involve “leverage[ing] their own loyalty as currency” (2022). In this way, KFC would need to find individuals who are loyal to their brand and recognize that their role would, in this way, primarily act as a means of representing KFC much as a nation’s ambassadors work to represent them in other places. Their roles in those settings is to put on the country’s best appearance and speak to their strengths and what they bring to the table. In this situation, the ambassadors would be specifically highlighting these two products, spicy chicken and lemonade drink.

For KFC, one of the best ways to find ambassadors would be to look to their online presence and find loyal customers and engaged fans as Freberg suggests is a strong candidate for an ambassador (2022). Freberg explains that these relationships need to be built over time and for these loyal customers or engaged fans, this relationship may already be well-built given the length of time and some may already be acting as de facto ambassadors. As a sort of silly example, I am a diehard fan of Kwik Trip, the convenience store chain, and part of my wedding was actually Kwik Trip-themed. We shared extensive content online that engaged a substantial number of people and actually ended up in Kwik Trip’s feed, who ultimately asked if they could use the content. I have created other content with which they have engaged since then and were they to expand their program from just influencers to ambassadors, someone of my engagement level could be an excellent candidate. Freberg mentions a strong internal culture as necessary to build this external culture and if you are at all a follower of Kwik Trip, you know their internal social media structure is incredible and they have built an extremely competitive and impressive social media following on multiple platforms with which a variety of audiences are engaged. KFC would need to do the same to create a successful ambassador program.

Freberg best outlines steps to create a program of this nature. Research: KFC should look for people who are already engaging with their content. Exclusivity: KFC should establish specific criteria for the program to be sure those who are participating recognize they are being given a unique opportunity based on their qualifications. If someone feels that just anyone can participate, they are less likely to give it as much effort as you would like. Offer perks: This would include offering things like discounts, commissions, or merchandise to ambassadors. I have seen ambassadors have things like coupon codes  where they receive a small amount each time someone uses it. Power to create content: KFC should allow these ambassadors a great deal of creative control of their content. Giving them information on the product as well as the opportunity to try it is the best way to get good content rather than something like a script. Start small: Having too many ambassadors right away will make the program unmanageable. As it succeeds, KFC may wish to expand it depending on its success. Lifestyle: Freberg brings up the idea of a lifestyle rather than a product but mentions that some do focus on a product. For KFC, I would suggest a focus on a product or products rather than a lifestyle as I do not believe the lifestyle focus quite fits the market for a fast-food chain. (All adapted from Freberg, 2022)

Given the focus on product rather than lifestyle, I would suggest Maker’s Mark as an ambassador program to explore as an example for KFC. This program offers perks rather than monetary compensation and advanced access to products (Freberg, 2022). KFC may wish to have regional events to try new products limited to their ambassadors. My suggestion would be to include aspects of other more social media-driven ambassador programs as Maker’s Mark is more traditional due to limitations on alcohol brands (Freberg, 2022). The other example provided by Freberg for a product (although its presence is more lifestyle-based) is Red Bull (2022). Their social media campaigns would be an excellent supplement to the Maker’s Mark ambassador program.

Source:

Freberg, K. (2022). Social media for strategic communication (2nd ed.). SAGE Publishing.

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