When it comes to blending food, culture and innovation into one unforgettable brand experience, Kentucky Town stands out as a benchmark for experiential marketing. What began as a local pop-up to celebrate KFC South Africa's 50th anniversary has grown into a continental — and even global — phenomenon.
In this exclusive Q&A, we spoke to Grant Macpherson, Chief Marketing Officer of KFC Africa, to explore how Kentucky Town has become more than just an event — it's a celebration of community, creativity and connection. From limited-edition menus to immersive, tech-powered experiences, Macpherson shares what goes into crafting one of Africa's most talked-about brand activations.
What do you think makes Kentucky Town such a unique and successful experience for fans?
Firstly, Kentucky Town is a "homegrown" concept. South Africa conceptualised and launched the world's first-ever Kentucky Town for our 50th anniversary in South Africa in November 2021.
We hosted our inaugural one in our Rosebank store in Johannesburg. Three and a half years later, we've recently hosted our fifth Kentucky Town here, in Bloemfontein, following events in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.
It's proven to be a hit with customers — we've already hosted over 350 000 fans at our pop-ups. It's a fun and effective way to build closer relationships and brand loyalty with the local communities that our teams in the rest of Africa are now also developing their own bespoke Kentucky Towns, with events hosted in Namibia and Mauritius. It has also expanded beyond our African shores to global markets, including Thailand and Malaysia.
Why the Fans Show Up
We have focused on developing one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences for our customers and tailor-making each pop-up for the local community. For 11 days only (in each of the pop-ups) — a nod to our 11 Herbs and Spices secret recipe — Kentucky Town fans get to enjoy the ‘finger lickin' good' vibes with a new limited-edition KFC menu, KFC sauces, exclusive collabs, hot KFC gear, exciting and fun experiences, competitions, free entertainment and so much more.
Our pop-ups make a memorable impact on our communities. We were thrilled that Kentucky Town Bloemfontein's menu reached international news.
How do you approach creating an event that feels authentic and meaningful to the communities you engage with?
Our top priority is connecting each community to the best of KFC in ways that are always original and memorable. Every Kentucky Town pop-up is carefully tailored to its location, with unique menus and experiences designed to resonate with the local community.
Our teams dive deep into the local vibe — researching regional culture, food, language, fashion and youth trends — to craft one-of-a-kind, hyper-local events that celebrate each area. When developing new menus, we follow a rigorous process to ensure the flavours reflect the tastes and traditions of that region.
We also collaborate with local media, DJs and other cultural voices to dial up the energy and make sure every Kentucky Town is the hottest ticket in town — an 11-day experience locals can't wait to be part of.
How do you strike a balance between staying true to KFC's heritage and pushing creative boundaries with new flavours and experiences?
The ‘finger lickin' good' taste is always the priority. So, each limited edition menu item has to pass our stringent "taste test".
We take inspiration from the region when we are planning our Kentucky Town menu items. For instance, in Durban we served up our take on the bunny chow with "Kentucky Chows" and in Pretoria the Kentucky Spathlo kota was a fan favourite.
We also make sure we offer exciting menu collabs such as Bloemfontein's Six Gun Grill Zinger Braai Burger, the Flamin' Hot Doritos Loaded Fries, Mr Sweet Speckled Eggs Shake and the Kentucky Fried Oreo.
We've collaborated with amapiano sensation Uncle Waffles at the Kentucky Town Pretoria when we introduced the Uncle Waffles Burger onto the menu.
We're planning to introduce many of the top-selling products from our Kentucky Town pop-ups into select KFCs across the country, giving even more people the opportunity to get their hands on the limited-edition menu items.
What role does technology, including AI, play in making Kentucky Town more interactive and engaging?
Kentucky Town's Gen Z fans are tech savvy and always have their digital devices on hand, so we incorporate experiences and activities that make use of current technology, such as AI, virtual reality and other digital touchpoints.
For example, in Bloemfontein, the entire experience was digital — from scanning QR codes to booking activities or ordering meals to fully automated, tech-driven interactions throughout the space. Visitors could even have their selfies enhanced by AI and printed on a classic KFC bucket at the AI Self(ie) Bucket Station.
What are some of the most effective ways brands can integrate digital experiences into live events?
Creating interactive and immersive experiences is essential to making our events memorable.
At our latest pop-up, we introduced the ASMR Bucket Studio —a soundproof booth where guests could record their own KFC-themed ASMR audio. ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, refers to the tingling sensation some people experience in response to certain soothing sounds, like whispering, tapping, or the crunch of crispy food.
It was a unique sensory experience that encouraged them to engage with the brand in a fresh, playful way — with plenty of content made to share online.
What are some key elements that make for an unforgettable brand activation?
Firstly, always have an experienced and world-class team working with you. KFC has built an exceptional team of partners that have developed our Kentucky Town pop-ups year after year. We've succeeded, as a team, in creating a fully immersive experience for the fans.
The team's "tick box" for anything we do at the pop-ups includes:
- relevance to the community
- quality, at every touchpoint
- limited edition menu that isn't available in store (yet) and is 'finger lickin' good'
- customisation of trendy merchandise to suit the local residents
- immersive experiences that ensure people remember the event
- collaboration local partners, including local media, entertainers and influencers, and
- FOMO — we want to make people around the country have FOMO and ask for Kentucky Town to visit their town or city next.
What are some of the biggest challenges in executing an event like Kentucky Town, and how do you overcome them?
Each area presents the opportunity (and challenge) to innovate.
A key challenge lies in striking the balance between providing an authentic KFC experience while taking cues from the choice of location and the market trends in the area to develop a new, limited edition menu and activities that will resonate with the local fans.
The Kentucky Towns all have their own unique menus, which are inspired by each area. We need to drive our marketing messaging for the pop-up around this so that customers (who already love our original menu) know that they will be treated to something completely new with the food and drinks on offer.
Planning, implementing and delivering an event to the scale of Kentucky Town requires high-level integration between multiple parties — from our KFC marketing, franchisee and operations teams, to our agencies, suppliers, merchandisers, logistics partners, etc.
The KFC marketing team — and key suppliers — are also on the ground from a week before the pop-up and throughout the pop-ups.
How do you measure the impact of an event like this beyond sales?
Beyond personally experiencing our customers' delight at the pop-ups in person, we obviously evaluate our impact and success.
Building traction and, ultimately, a following over the past five years for the Kentucky Town concept is a triumph for our team. It's allowed us to establish the event as a brand in its own right.
Sales and attendance figures are both great indicators of a successful event, but the organic social reach and conversation are what help solidify Kentucky Town in the minds of our fans.
Watching our “locally grown” pop-up concept expand into other countries has also made us incredibly proud.
KFC is always the talk of the town when we launch Kentucky Town pop-ups. We've reached millions of people through our media and PR campaigns and collaborating with hundreds of influencers across the country.
Creating FOMO about our Bloemfontein menu on global news platforms and the City of Roses' event trending three times on X were recent highlights for the team.
One of the standout moments from previous Kentucky Towns was the success of the Uncle Waffles Burger at Kentucky Town Pretoria, which set a new record for KFC Africa by achieving the highest single-day sales of any item in the brand's history.
The results across the board have proven we're delivering an experience our fans love and it's having an impact. Kentucky Town is here to stay — and we're planning to expand beyond our next pop-up event. We are adding some of the top-selling products from our various events to select KFCs across the country, giving more people the opportunity to enjoy the limited-edition menu items.
Did you enjoy this Q&A? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Canva