KFC opens new creative chapter with dreamy Rick Astley ice-skating spot

KFC Australia has opened its new creative chapter with a fried chicken love story on ice.

The brand’s latest campaign features a beautifully choreographed routine between a KFC cook and a fried chicken drumstick, set to a reimagining of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

The film launches Go Full Chicken, a new long-term brand platform and the first major work from Special since the agency was appointed to the KFC business earlier this year.

The platform is built around KFC’s obsession with chicken and the belief that great chicken comes from doing things properly.

Rather than simply celebrating the product, Go Full Chicken shines a light on the care, craft and commitment behind it, from the cooks who prepare each piece by hand every day to the fans who take their KFC orders seriously.

The launch film was directed by Stefan Hunt from EXIT and turns that devotion into an unexpectedly dreamy brand moment, with the KFC cook and drumstick skating through a full routine.

Vanessa Rowed, chief marketing officer at KFC, said the platform signals a new creative chapter for the brand.

“Continuing to evolve and reinvent ourselves is part of our success story. Go Full Chicken is more than a campaign. It’s a belief that informs everything we do,” Rowed said.

“It shines a light on the extraordinary care, craft and dedication that goes into our chicken, while giving us a powerful new platform to create entertaining work that is as iconic as our product and brand.”

The work arrives as KFC continues to build on its reputation as one of Australia’s more distinctive and creatively ambitious mass-market brands.

For Special, it marks the agency’s first major public expression for KFC since winning the account in February.

Special chief creative officers Tom Martin and Julian Schreiber said the platform was built from KFC’s obsession with chicken and designed to become a long-term creative asset.

“Every great brand platform starts with a truth. Go Full Chicken takes KFC’s obsession with doing chicken properly and turns it into a platform for bold, entertaining work,” Martin said.

Schreiber added: “It lets KFC plant a flag in culture, because Go Full Chicken gives us permission to create a unique brand voice people genuinely want to spend time with.”

Cade Heyde, global partner at Special, said the campaign marks the beginning of a broader partnership with the brand.

“From our first conversations, it was clear we shared the same ambition for the brand,” Heyde said.

“This is the first expression of that ambition, and the beginning of a partnership focused on building the next chapter of KFC’s cultural relevance.”

The campaign launches this week across cinema, television and digital channels.

The Go Full Chicken platform will extend across sponsorship, outdoor, social, influencer and Google experiences throughout the year.

The Australian campaign also coincides with the launch of a refreshed global visual identity for KFC, designed to feel more modern and distinctive while remaining unmistakably KFC.

The campaign was created by Special, with media by EssenceMediacom.