PUBG collabs with KFC’s Colonel Sanders to spice up the game for Gen Z gamers in Korea

To reignite interest among Gen Z gamers in Korea, the globally renowned battle-royale game Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), developed by the Korean gaming giant Krafton and famous for its celebration slogan ‘Winner Winner Chicken Dinner’, has teamed up with the iconic chicken master KFC’s Colonel Sanders on an epic gaming experience.

PUBG, the world’s renowned battle game, has always been celebrated for its authenticity and captivating gameplay, epitomized by the iconic in-game slogan, “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!” To gain the love of Gen-Z gamers in Korea, the game teams up with Media.Monks, the award-winning digital creative company of S4 Capital, to spice the game up! Enter the legendary KFC Colonel Sanders, the maestro of all things chicken, accompanied by his indomitable spirit to spice up the Chicken Dinner! If he could build the KFC empire at the age of 65, imagine the magic and resilience he could bring to the PUBG game at the age of 134.

To ensure this extraordinary collaboration between PUBG and Colonel Sanders resonates with the livestream-obsessed Gen-Z audience, the award-winning digital creative company, Media.Monks, orchestrated a captivating joint live-streaming marketing campaign in partnership with KFC. This effort culminated in the successful launch of the “Sanders’ Streamer Showdown”.

“Through the collaboration with KFC, we aimed to approach the Gen Z generation in a new way. The live streaming with the iconic Colonel Sanders character allowed us to achieve significant success throughout the campaign with positive reactions from viewers, fans and the market,” says OH SEHYUNG, Head of Product Marketing Dept 1 of PUBG.

The lively livestream featuring the iconic Colonel Sanders alongside renowned gaming influencers such as 얍얍, 서새봄, and 주키니. The event unfolded as an intense competition, adding an exciting dynamic to the virtual gathering.

The audience was treated to the captivating “Colonel Sanders the Great Appearance,” a segment filled with carefully scripted and edited content that set the tone. Subsequently, “Colonel Sanders & Streamers” shared a comprehensive patch preview, skillfully blending VOD briefs with live expert analysis. At the core of the live stream were three “Special Missions,” where Colonel Sanders and streamers actively engaged the audience with real-time interactive content. The event reached its pinnacle with the thrilling “Chicken Dinner Moment,” featuring a unique “Mukbang & Q&A” session that added a gastronomic twist, seamlessly merging the art of eating with the excitement of gaming. An essential component of the broadcast was a substantial live Q&A with Colonel Sanders, enabling viewers to pose questions through various channels and interact with their favorite influencers, including the 134-year-old oldest gamer in the world whom they adore. Selected audience questions were rewarded with surprise prizes from PUBG and KFC. Adding a personal touch, Colonel Sanders personally explored the KFC store on the Erangel map during the live stream, providing a special and immersive experience of the “PUBG & KFC Collaboration.”

Nahil Kang and Matthijs Klip, Creative Directors at Media.Monks, said: “Bringing Colonel Sanders, the champion of chicken himself, to reclaim PUBG’s coveted Winner Winner Chicken Dinner was a finger lickin’ good moment of Korean gaming culture.”

This epic livestream went on Korean Twitch, a Korean leading live streaming platform known for its diverse content with a primary focus on gaming, captivated an impressive audience, with over 170,000 unique viewers and a peak of 24,000 concurrent spectators, demonstrating the powerful allure of this unique culinary and gaming fusion. The Twitch livestream was a focal point, featuring Colonel Sanders alongside renowned streamers in a memorable PUBG battle. Complementing the online spectacle, a creative offline campaign was rolled out across 200 KFC stores in Korea, enhancing reach through tray flyers and life-size Colonel cutouts. This multifaceted approach resulted in significant engagement, with more than 2,000 unique chatters actively participating, solidifying the campaign’s effectiveness and its seamless integration of gaming excitement with gastronomic appeal.