MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Jollibee is a household name in the Philippines. From its signature Chickenjoy to the everyday Yumburger, it has every Filipino craving covered. Yet recently, the fast food giant launched a new product: The Chick’nwich, its most innovating offering since the 1970s.
According to Jollibee, the team spent a long time manifesting their idea of the perfect chicken sandwich.
“Basically our goal was to come up with the best tasting [chicken sandwich], something that will really excite the market, the same way people crave and talk about Chickenjoy. That’s the ambition,” said Jollibee Global Marketing Head & Jollibee Philippines Marketing Head Francis Flores.
Prior to releasing the Jollibee Chick’nwich, Flores said, “There’s no chicken sandwich that we think is really great and really stands out.”
He added that as Jollibee is recognized for being the country’s fried chicken expert, “it was expected for a brand like Jollibee to come up with its own chicken sandwich.”
Coming up with the perfect chicken sandwich does not happen overnight. According to Jollibee, the company took its time to experiment and mix and match different sauces and ingredients. Senior Marketing Manager Pamie Cruz said, “The chicken fillet is the hero of the Chick’nwich and as such, we made sure that our fillet was double-breaded to topple the crunch. The Chick’nwich also uses 100 percent whole muscle fillet, so you’re guaranteed that every bite is really juicy. We made sure that the Chick’nwich would definitely be a next-level chicken sandwich [and] it has twice the weight of the usual chicken burger out there.”
Jollibee has also been serving chicken sandwiches in its international branches. “The anticipation of launching one locally was very high,” said Assistant Vice President for Marketing Mari Aldecoa. “We took that level of clamor and level of excitement to make sure that the product we came out with matches their expectation of a fried chicken product from Jollibee.”
After perfecting the product, the next challenge was how to launch it. For this, Jollibee partnered with creative angency BBH Singapore. “We all saw [this launch] as an iconic moment in the brand’s history. And so we took it as an opportunity to actually try and do something different,” said Khairul Mondzi, group creative director of BBH.
Modeling the ad after tech companies, the masters of innovation, BBH likened the Chick’nwich to a phone, utilizing close-up shots to showcase how sleek and flawless the sandwich actually was.
“It was intended to change the way people think about the entire chicken sandwich category, as well as the quick-service restaurant industry and how it normally advertises,” Mondzi added.
BBH Singapore went far and beyond just another food advertisement, garnering 17 million views on Facebook alone.
Stink Films’ Louis Nieto who directed the film said it was a matter of balance. “From my side as a director, it was also combining all the ingredients, it’s like cooking, having the best ingredients to make this film look amazing and as good as it can.”
In order to inject the signature joy from the brand, they squeezed in a little fun towards the end. Aldecoa said, “In the second part of the ad, you’ll see everyone’s favorite—our beloved Jollibee still make an appearance, parodying Steve Jobs.”
The campaign was well-received by Jollibee’s avid fans. They were also quick to note that they owe it to the collaboration between the production team and the fast food brand. As Cruz put it, “A lot of people commented that the hype was very real, because the product has not failed to meet their expectations. And the campaign was, of course very instrumental in driving that buzz.”
CREDITS
Agency: BBH Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Sascha Kuntze
Creative Directors: Mae Ong, Gaston Soto, Khairul Mondzi
Managing Partner: Ross Henderson
Account Manager: Isabel Ong
Chief Strategic Officer: Jacob Wright
Senior Strategist: Zoe Chen
Agency Producer: Wendi Chong
Production Company: Stink CZ, s.r.o.
Director: Louis Nieto
Audio House: Echolab & Fuse Adventures in Audio
Client: Jollibee
Jollibee Global Marketing Head & Jollibee Philippines Marketing Head: Francis Flores
Assistant Vice President for Marketing: Mari Aldecoa
Senior Marketing Manager: Pamela Grace Cruz
Assistant Brand Manager: Marie Joyce Marfori
