KFC launches 'A Taste of What's Next' as its MENA brand platform.

KFC has launched a new brand platform, A Taste of What's Next, across the Middle East and North Africa. It covers menu innovation, restaurant design, digital experiences and cultural activations, and is meant to reposition the brand for shoppers who want more flavours and customisation.

Before the launch, KFC listed some of its original buckets, restaurant neon signs and sauces for sale on Dubizzle and Facebook Marketplace under the line "A chapter is coming to an end." Creators who bought the items had them delivered, which fuelled speculation about what was coming. Communicate reports the teaser, not the figures behind it.

The first product under the platform is KFC MIX'D, a mix-your-own chicken experience. A campaign film shows a young man leaving a routine day, with the grey setting turning to colour when he breaks from it. The roll-out will run through advertising films, outdoor, digital and social content, and creator partnerships in KFC's MENA markets.

Ahmed Arafa, Chief Marketing Officer for KFC MENAPAKT and CCA, said the brand's research with thousands of consumers showed people love KFC but expect it to evolve. Derek Green, Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\RAAD, KFC's creative agency, said it takes courage for a category leader to put its own past up for sale.

Communicate does not name the markets that launch first, the media budget or any results, and the research is described only in general terms. For brands in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, the useful part is the method: a teaser built on selling the old brand assets to creators, then a product that lets customers shape the order.