KFC Spain has built its reputation on innovation, tongue-in-cheek messaging, and exceptional fried chicken. The brand has consistently pushed creative boundaries, from partnering with Forza to develop race tracks based around drive-throughs (which earned a Cannes nomination), to maintaining a playful yet authentic voice that resonates with Spanish customers. Along the way, they’ve relied on Braze to help amplify their voice and marketing goals.
However, even the most innovative brands can face product challenges, and for KFC Spain, their french fries were a serious liability that threatened to undermine their market leadership. While most brands use historical purchase data for targeting and segmentation, KFC Spain decided to use its data, and the flexibility of Braze, to rebuild customer relationships.
Transforming complaints into a comeback
For years, customer complaints were measured through Google Reviews, social media, and direct feedback, with fries consistently cited as the weakest element of the KFC experience. Customers mocked them online, leaving thousands of negative reviews and social media jokes. As competitors improved their side offerings, KFC decided to address and own the issue head-on. The product needed to be better.
Yet even after reformulating the recipe, KFC faced another challenge: how to launch the fries to customers who’d already rejected them? They realized that a traditional advertising campaign wouldn’t work—they needed to win back trust, not just promote “new and improved” fries, by admitting past failures and demonstrating a commitment to making things right. This led them to develop the "Fries Compensation" program, and to use their customer data and integrated technology to send a personalized apology to previous customers.
Using customer data to make things right
Instead of using data for targeting, KFC used it for individualized redemption at scale, flipping the script on traditional personalization. The brand analyzed years of CRM and transactional data to identify customers who had previously purchased fries. This data led to a key human insight: French fry purchases were emotional. Customers don't just dislike bad fries—they feel personally betrayed when a product fails them.
The strategy of the Fries Compensation program was to identify every affected customer and to personally acknowledge and compensate them—not in cash, but in new and improved french fries. CRM purchase data ensured that compensation was precise and relevant, so that each customer would receive the exact amount of fries they’d previously endured, for free. The goal this time? To enjoy them.
Executing a personalized apology at scale
The campaign execution was sophisticated and seamless. Using precision targeting capabilities in Braze, KFC delivered hyper-personalized emails, app notifications, and social engagement to make offers to identified customers. Each message acknowledged the customer's specific purchase history and offered tailored compensation based on their actual fry consumption.
The campaign leveraged advanced automation capabilities in Braze, including custom attributes and webhooks to create a fully automated reward distribution system. When customers qualified for compensation, the platform automatically:
- Identified their historical fry purchase patterns
- Generated personalized compensation offers, rather than a generic discount
- Delivered targeted communications across email, in-app messaging, and push notifications
- Managed in-store reward fulfillment through integrated APIs
- Tracked engagement and redemption metrics in real-time
Integration with KFC's existing systems, including kiosk data feeds, enabled comprehensive customer journey orchestration without requiring extensive development resources. Moreover, the segmentation for the entire campaign was executed by a single marketing team member, demonstrating the efficiency and power of Braze for complex customer engagement initiatives.
The campaign also extended beyond owned digital channels. KFC engaged directly with customers on social media platforms and even replied to old Google Reviews, personally inviting critics to try the new fries for free. This public-facing transparency included displaying real customer complaints on billboards, proving that the brand was determined to fix both its fries and reputation, in an on-brand way.
“Braze played a key role in empowering us to transform a new launch into one of KFC Spain’s most successful community activations."
Alberto Ascorve
CRM & Loyalty Specialist, KFCRecord-breaking results: The more fries, the merrier
The Fries Compensation campaign delivered unprecedented results across every engagement metric. The 95% email open rate represented KFC's highest-performing CRM campaign ever, while app downloads increased by 679% and daily active users grew by 233%.
Most remarkably, despite giving away 17 tons of fries, KFC achieved its highest-ever daily app sales on launch day, driven from customers who returned to try the new recipe and ordered additional menu items. The 20x increase in daily orders demonstrated that genuine brand accountability can drive both immediate and long-term business results.
The campaign's social engagement was equally impressive, generating 42M impressions and 1.3M social interactions. The combination of direct CRM engagement, viral social activation, and mass participation transformed a product failure into a breakthrough success story. The campaign reached far and wide, ensuring that everyone had a chance to taste the new and improved recipe.
Key takeaways
- Use customer data for redemption and connection: Historical purchase data can do more than drive ad targeting efficiency. It can also help rebuild trust and relationships.
- Accountability can be more powerful than promotion: Acknowledging past failures and making genuine amends can create stronger brand loyalty than traditional promotional campaigns.
- Technology enables empathy at scale: With the right tools, even a complex campaign can feel human. Braze made it possible for KFC Spain to automate rewards, customize outreach, and orchestrate the entire experience without extensive development resources.
- Humor and honesty build brand love: By leaning into their past failures with transparency and personality, KFC Spain turned a product flaw into a cultural moment that customers respected and remembered.
