Hungry Lion's integrated campaign roars with success

The campaign comprises a new TV and radio commercial, digital, PR and on the ground activations that promise to 'give Mzansi more'.

"The level of redemption on vouchers via digital channels has been way above industry benchmarks," says Tashalene Reid, Marketing Manager at Hungry Lion, a Shoprite Holdings company.

She also attributes the increase in sales to the new brand image, refurbished outlets, its proudly South African heritage and a great product, in the form of bigger portions of chicken served up in the brand's visually appealing branded buckets. "Our Pride Bucket has been iconic to our stores for more than 12 years, so it remains at the centre of our new brand campaign."

The campaign is a follow-on from its first engaging TV commercial, which saw the Pride Buckets being flown in by helicopter into the metropolis and promising Mzansi more.

"We then built on this story, by bringing the buckets to life using an on-the-ground mechanic in the form of 50 Lucky Bucket mascots who have been promoting the R7-million 'spot a lucky bucket' competition throughout South Africa in a fun and engaging way. To date, they have been seen climbing Table Mountain, riding on trains, touring the city, surfing and visiting iconic areas all over South Africa."

Reid explains that this particular campaign is a first for South Africa in terms of utilising these various touch points and in terms of integration, it has seen over 700 000 digital WiCodes being issued within the first four weeks.

"It has included pushing social media limits and digital interaction via mobile devices to include WeChat, VoucherCloud and Mxit as a mechanic for our market, providing a perfect platform for live interaction for all of South Africa and enabling both feature and smartphone users the opportunity to participate."

According to SocialBaker's latest social media report, the brand has seen a 155% increase in engagement on its social channels alone, overtaking Nike Sportswear.

African growth

Hungry Lion, which was launched in 1997 by Shoprite Holdings, has seen a rapid growth trajectory by extending its footprint. It now has a network of more than 160 stores in Africa and South Africa with operations in eight African countries.

Over the past two years, the brand has undergone major changes to its management, brand, stores and menu in order to achieve its goal of being a first world Quick Service Restaurant (QSR). "We have had to re-strategise, reformulate and rebrand our stores to make this a reality.

"Our goal is to provide all communities in Africa with tasty chicken in a first-world environment at competitive prices, whilst staying true to our 100% homegrown SA offering. The stores now have ample seating and a focus on providing great chicken products to bring to life our brand vision in very diverse areas in South Africa.

"Our integrated campaign for the launch of the 'new' brand aims to make South Africans aware of our brand promise in a fun, engaging and aspirational way. We needed to reach and impact on a larger scale than ever before. To do this we needed to push the boundaries in order to get more people to experience the new brand at multiple touch points."

"It has taken us two years of planning, new brand implementation and roll-out for us to be ready to market the brand and the success over the last month is testament that South Africans are responding well to the new brand," she concludes.