Marketing Morsels: Hot Pockets Shorts, KFC Pub and Haribo Christmas Trees

In this week’s edition of Marketing Morsels, you’ll find creative ideas from Heinz, Hot Pockets, KFC, Taco Bell and more. Enjoy the assortment!

Morsel #1: KFC Opens a Pop-Up London Pub

Nothing says fried chicken like the dark wood and smell of ale emanating from a pub in Fulham, right? Well, KFC thought so with a weeklong activation named The Colonel’s Arms.

With the World Cup well underway, the pub was created as a hangout for lucky guests who bagged exclusive tickets as a promotion for the company’s delivery service.

Externally, the pub was KFC-branded as a “chicken house” with the Colonel on the windows; it even had chicken buckets hanging outside as planters. Further branding was found inside behind the bar, on the red and black dartboard and the foosball table. The takeover was completed by serving chicken alongside pints of beer.

Morsel #2: The Moment You Find Heinz

Kraft Heinz used the insight that customers tend to randomly leave behind items on shelves when they spot what they really want. Created by Serviceplan Cologne, the integrated campaign is running in France and features a film with out-of-place mayos sitting on shelves having been left by customers who chose the Heinz option instead.

Morsel #3: Peacock’s Massive Soccer Ball

To promote its Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup, Peacock inflated a huge spinning soccer ball outside of Rockefeller Center in New York. The soccer ball would change to the color of the winning team for each match screening and “scream” gooooooool using a digital screen whenever a team scored a point.

Created by The Brooklyn Brothers, the ball is also featured at Miami’s Wynwood Marketplace.

Morsel #4: Taco Bell’s car park becomes a soccer field

Another World Cup tie-in, this time from Taco Bell, turned a parking lot into a soccer field.

The commercial from Taco Bell’s culture agency of record Cashmere sees customers sitting outside a restaurant using a scrunched-up piece of foil as a ball to show off their soccer skills to prove you don’t need fancy equipment, or even a ball, to play the beautiful game.

Within the first week of release, the 15-second version of the campaign had reached 1.5 million views on the brand’s YouTube page.

Morsel #5:  Crown Royal Pays It Forward

To mark Giving Tuesday on Nov. 29, whisky brand Crown Royal launched its first Web3 foray, releasing 75,000 digital collectibles. For each one claimed through Dec. 31, the Diageo brand will send a care package to an active American military service member.

The “That Deserves a Crown” initiative, created in partnership with Salesforce NFT Cloud, Crossmint and Vayner3, worked with Packages From Home, which asked U.S. residents to nominate Army soldiers to receive the gifts.

“Crown is built on the belief that if you live generously, life will treat you royally! Our mission is to activate in a way that inspires generosity all year round,” said Sophie Kelly, svp of whiskeys in North America at Diageo.

Morsel #6: Buddy the Elf Teams With Hello Fresh

Buddy the Elf, the star of Will Ferrell’s now beloved holiday-season movie Elf, made his first move into advertising with British supermarket Asda last month. Now he’s also working with food delivery service Hello Fresh.

As the accompanying campaign outlines, Hello Fresh is offering festive meal kits to make Buddy’s favorite Syrupy Spaghetti dish, featuring Colavita spaghetti, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, marshmallows and more.

The commercial was created by HelloFresh’s in-house creative team and production company Pig Apple.

Morsel #7: Hot Pocket Shorts

For the strange people who insist on still wearing shorts in the winter (why???), microwavable sandwich brand Hot Pockets has released shorts with actual hot pockets. The insulated cargo pockets were created in collaboration with Columbus Fashion Alliance and will drop for purchase through the Hot Pockets store on its website on Dec. 12.

Morsel #8: Paddy Power’s Message From Wales’ Sheep

The final World Cup stunt for this week saw Irish bookmaker Paddy Power deliver a message from a herd of sheep to the Welsh national team ahead of taking on England in Qatar.

With more sheep than people in Wales, the social media film released by Paddy Power on the morning of the big game saw a farmer command his flock to issue their special message “sheep > lions” in reference to the three lions on England’s badge.

Unfortunately the message fell on deaf ears as the Welsh were beaten and sent crashing out of the tournament before the next stage with the last 16 teams. Baaaad luck there.

Morel #9: Haribo’s Interactive Christmas Trees

British confectionary brand Haribo has switched on two giant interactive Christmas trees in London train stations, decorated with 100 oversized treat baubles and a Goldbear topper. Next to them is a bench with a special button that brings the lights to life and makes the tree topper sparkle along to Christmas music.

The aim is to reach 20 million visitors and deliver 7.4 million impressions during the holidays. Supporting the activations will be radio sponsorship, PR and social media content in the run-up to the festive occasion.