The Story

During my time as a Creative Technologist at BBDO Singapore, we received an open brief for our new client, Popeyes Chicken. The challenge was to create a campaign that would help Popeyes Chicken stand out from the competition. We aimed to develop a fun and engaging campaign that would captivate the audience.

I conceptualized the idea of creating a special fried chicken holder that would play music inside people's heads with every bite. This inventive approach served as a playful means to promote Popeyes Chicken's new spicy variant, setting it apart from anything any other brand had attempted before.

Concept sketches of the prototype

The Technology

The core of the Musical Chicken project revolved around bone conduction technology, a method of transmitting sound to the inner ear through skull bone vibrations. It works by vibrating the bones in your skull, transmitting sound directly to your inner ear, eliminating the need for traditional earphones or headphones.

Components that goes inside the enclosure

Final 3D printed enclosure design

For this project, I designed a prototype to demonstrate the concept. The prototype consisted of a custom case designed to hold a standard fried chicken drumstick. I sourced the required components from Adafruit and skillfully soldered them together. The key components included an amplifier board, a bone conduction transducer, and a battery, with a stereo headphone jack for music input.

Execution

Regrettably, the agency did not secure the pitch, which meant we couldn't proceed with executing the idea for Popeyes Chicken.

Pivot -> Metalhead Chicken 🤘

However, my Executive Creative Director was so enamored with the concept that he proposed using it for another client—KFC. Thus, we pitched the idea to KFC, introducing the concept of 'Metalhead Chicken.' The revamped approach involved partnering with a renowned Japanese heavy metal band to release an exclusive track on the 'Metalhead Chicken' platform. Fans would need to conquer the spiciest drumstick to unlock and enjoy their favorite band's latest tune.

The pivot was driven by several insights:

• KFC's immense popularity in Japan.
• The tradition of Japanese people enjoying KFC on Christmas.
• Discovery of a heavy metal band (Maximum the Hormone) with music dedicated to fried chicken and fast food.
• The band's previous display of affection for KFC on Twitter.

Although the KFC project also did not come to fruition, I thoroughly enjoyed working on these creative endeavors and take pride in the prototype we developed.

Maximum the Hormone: The music video that give me the idea to use them as the band