2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In Quebec, July 1st isn’t just Canada Day — it’s Moving Day, when over 200,000 residents relocate in a 24-hour frenzy. It's also a feeding frenzy: 85% of movers order takeout, and nearly two-thirds of those orders go to pizza chains that dominate with aggressive discounts and heavy media blitzes.

KFC faced a brutal uphill battle. With fewer than 150 restaurants in the province (compared to over 1,000 pizza joints) and a shoestring activation budget of just CAD $150K, the brand was wildly outgunned.

Their share of voice sat at just 7%, a fraction of McDonald’s 36%, Subway’s 19%, or even Pizza Pizza’s 12%. The brand had no scale, no budget, and almost no cultural relevance on Quebec’s biggest delivery day
of the year.

Their task? Steal appetite, attention, and ultimately sales from the pizza giants — without trying to
outspend them.

Their business objectives were to increase their Quebec sales by more than 3% vs. the previous moving day. The marketing objective was a 9 % ad-awareness in Quebec within 10 days. Finally, their activity objective was to garner 5,000 consumer interactions (claims) through a custom microsite/hotline.

Movers crave food they can eat with their hands — but those same hands are often bruised, cut, and aching from the move.

The idea? Turn Moving Day finger pain into Finger Lickin’ gain.

The plan? To launch a hero film (15s & 6s social video) on June 30, create a mock PSA that shows couch corners crushing thumbs, wardrobe doors slamming knuckles, and a dramatic voice-over declaring: “If your fingers have suffered on Moving Day, you may be entitled to delicious compensation.” CTA: file a Finger Lickin’ Injury Claim.

Personal-injury-lawyer OOH featured tongue-in-cheek billboards and digital transit shelters along Montreal’s highest moving-truck corridors. Copy mimicked ambulance-chaser ads: “Box-cut? Jammed thumb? Call 1-844-FINGER-4-KFC.”

Microsite + hotline allowed movers to upload pictures or simply describe their ‘injury.’ Every valid claim received a unique coupon for a free 3-piece Original Recipe via the KFC app or in-restaurant. Build time was 10 days, and claim form completion took less than 30 seconds.

Real-time social war-room had community managers replying to injury tweets with GIFs, first-aid quips, and direct claim links, fueling virality while spending zero extra media dollars.

Earned PR & influencers seeded the idea with Quebec humour sites (Narcity, Nightlife) and partnered with TikTok mover-influencer @CedricLeDemenageur to film his ‘bruised knuckle’ story in real time.

On Moving Day, everyone expects pizza. It’s the go-to food — cheap, easy, and always shows up. But that’s exactly the problem: it’s predictable. The agency saw an opportunity for KFC to stand out by breaking
that pattern.

When all your belongings are boxed up — including plates and cutlery — you want something that’s easy to eat with your hands. But on moving day, hands take a beating. They arrived at this by shadowing moving crews, scouring social chatter (#MovingDayQC), and running a quick-turn survey that found "sore fingers" ranked as the most common micro-injury of the day.

In just 48 hours, the stunt drove a 12 % lift in Quebec system sales versus the previous year’s Moving Day, fuelled by a 9 % jump in transactions. A paid impression plan of 3.2 million ballooned to 5.4 million as the idea caught fire — trending #2 on Quebec Twitter, earning 19 local news pickups and pushing ad-awareness up 5.2 points to 18.5 %, double their target. Engagement was off the charts: 20,300 movers visited the microsite, 12,047 filed injury claims, and 3,700 more phoned the hotline — collectively generating a ROAS of $6.40 for every media dollar spent.

But the impact didn’t end when the last box was unpacked. Seventy-two percent of coupons were redeemed through the KFC app, accelerating Quebec app adoption by 28 % month-over-month and proving that a micro-budget cultural hijack can outperform heavyweight spend.

Finger Lickin’ Injury Claims didn’t just steal Moving Day from pizza; it turned battered digits into brand equity and a $150K David-sized budget into a sustainable, nation-wide strategy shift — proof that with the right insight, small can still lick big.

Credits

Agency: Courage Inc
Founder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
President + Partner: Niki Sahni
Executive Director of Development: Shannon Miller
PR Coordinator, Intern: Alexandra Smith
Associate Creative Director, Writer: Jason Soy
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Zuheir Kotob
Group Account Director: Alex Karrayanides
Account Director: Kyron Sobers
Account Executive: Zoe Fetsis
Account Coordinator, Intern: Amoryn Witkin
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Producer: Katie Fowler
Junior Producer: Sunaina Arora

Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond Debicki
Director, Marketing: Azim Akhtar
Marketing Manager, Brand and Partnerships: Jordan Sequeira

Production: Skin and Bones
Director: Sam Hughes
Executive Producer: Joan Bell & Liane Thomas
Co Producers : Hanna Rashl- McRonald & Naomi Baker
DP: Jonathan Glendan
1st AC: Josh Smith
DIT: Kristan Wood
Graffer: Patrick McQuenan
Key Grip: Nick Julian
Swing: Christian Crosthwaite
Prod Designer: Inigo Jenkins
Set Dresser Maddi Davis Jones & Sam Adam Johnston
Stylist: Vannessa Popoili
Makeup: Alexandra Rotundo

Editorial House: Outsider Editorial
Editor: John Gallagher
Assistant Editor: Ilya Sarossy
Executive Producer: Kristina Anzlinger
Executive Producer: Kayan Choi
Producer: Kelsey Dale-McGrath

Transfer + Online: Alter Ego
Colourist: Lily Henry
Colour Assist: Vika Svishchova
VFX Artist: Darren Achim
VFX Assistant: Veri Whitaker
Executive Producer: HIlda Pereira
Producer: Bothbbi Dedman

Audio: Eggplant Music and Sound
Voice Director: Jamie Pennock
Sound Design: Peter Pacey
Engineer: Ben Spiller
Executive Producer: Nicola Treadgold
Producer: Nick Nadeau

Media - Wavemaker