Sometimes, the best marketing doesn’t come from million-dollar ad buys or overly polished brand speak. It comes from knowing your audience, owning your brand’s voice and having the guts to go all in.
KFC just showed us how it’s done
Their recent, largely social-media-based campaign announcing the return of their potato wedges showed exactly what happens when a brand truly listens to its people (the ones who buy from them and the ones who work for them), leans into authenticity and delivers with personality. It was flawless, timely and unapologetically real. It was the kind of move that sends engagement soaring and creates a brand moment that feels effortless even when it is anything but.
And here’s the kicker: That win didn’t happen by accident. It happened because leadership trusted the people they hired to do their jobs, whether that was their internal team, their agency of record or both working lockstep.
For months, they built anticipation, not with a jargon-filled press release, but with a breadcrumb trail of perfectly on-brand, wink-and-nod content, capped with an on-point colloquial mic drop. They accomplished this by:
- Asking fans what they should bring back, sparking wedge-and-wing mania in the comments (they were likely already planning to bring those items back due to customer demand, but let their target audience feel like they had a say).
- Slipping wedges into pop culture moments, like the Nicki Minaj Stiletto Challenge, but with wedges-style shoes instead of heels.
- Creating cheeky content around “curves” and “comebacks,” tapping into nostalgia.
- Building anticipation with “ENOUGH ALREADY” before dropping the wedge image with a simple, two-word knockout line: “HERE, DAMN.”
It worked because their team understood KFC’s audience and spoke their language. And yes, your social media team is part of your communications team. They are the experts who are always listening, testing, refining and finding the sweet spot between your brand’s voice and your audience’s ear.
It’s not about what you want to say. It’s about how they’ll hear it.
Here’s where so many companies miss the mark: They focus only on the message they want to push, not how it will land. But great communication isn’t about you. It’s about them – your audience.
If it doesn’t resonate, it falls flat. Period.
Your communications professionals, in-house or agency, know how to read and test your audience. They do the research. They track trends. They understand timing, tone and the right channels for your message. They’re not guessing; they’re making informed, strategic moves backed by data and experience.
The KFC effect
KFC didn’t stumble into this. It wasn’t luck. It was a carefully built arc, made possible by trust in the people shaping it, people who:
- Knew their audience beyond surface-level stats.
- Built a narrative over time, not just “made an announcement.”
- Understood the difference between safe content and content that sticks.
- Saw the long play while others focused only on next week’s post.
The cost of not listening
Unfortunately, not every brand gives their comms team or agency that trust. Too often, we see:
- Leaders attempting to rewrite or edit campaigns to the point of blandness.
- Approval chains that drag out momentum until the moment is gone.
- Teams dismissing the expertise of their own comms folks because “anyone can write a post” or “anyone can do communications.”
The result? Campaigns that look fine but feel empty. Messaging that checks a box but doesn’t move the needle. Audiences that scroll right past without a second thought.
Authenticity always wins
The KFC wedges’ comeback worked because it was authentic. It didn’t just tell us “wedges are back.” It spoke like the customers who had been asking for them, in a way only KFC could. That’s not chance. That’s the result of knowing your audience and trusting your communications pros to meet them where they are.
The bottom line
If you hire an agency, let them run the plays they know will work.
If you have an in-house comms leader or team, take their counsel seriously, especially when it challenges your comfort zone.
Because when you do, you don’t just get content. You get moments. You get a movement. You get culture. You get impact.
And if you’re lucky, you might just get your own version of “HERE, DAMN.”
When your moment arrives, don’t just show up. Show out. At Falls & Co., we know how to turn attention into impact, and we’re ready to do it for you. Let’s talk about making your next big win happen.
