Fake game ads have to be one of the most annoying genres of advertising. Cluttering social media feeds, they feature animations that are presented as if they were real gameplay, but which turn out to have nothing to do with the game they're advertising.
You would think everyone had cottoned on to the trick by now, but apparently these games continue to clock up millions of downloads. So KFC has gone and done something a little bit ingenious. It's taking a bite out of unscrupulous game publishers by turning their misleading ads into real games (See our pick of the best game development software if you want to make your own).
"Over 100 million people download these games daily and then immediately delete them because the actual games look nothing like the amazing ads," KFC says. It's responses is the launch of KFC Original Fake Games to make up for the disappointment suffered by all those mobile gamers.
Developed by advertising agency TBWA\RAAD and Eterna Software, the games replace the hapless knight-errant of those annoying ads with Colonel Sanders. And KFC is targeting many of the same digital ad spaces where misleading game ads tend to appear, redirecting viewers to games that actually look like how they're advertised.
There are four KFC Original Fake Games in total, all available in the same app. Each one only has three levels and about 15 minutes of gameplay, but the fact that the fastfood brand actually made turned the weird fake games into something playable is hilarious and makes me like the brand more.
KFC has long recognised its appeal to gamers and has leveraged that in its advertising. We've already seen it insert a beefed-up Colonel Sanders into Street Fighter, and its even created one of the weirdest game consoles ever made. The reason its efforts works so well for its brand position is that they show a genuine attempt to get involved in gaming and contribute to it rather than just advertise around it, creating marketing that's interactive and disruptive in the process.
Original Fake Games is available for free from the Apple App Store and should be coming soon to Google Play for Android.
For more fastfood branding news, see the reactions to the "depressing" new McDonald's restaurant designs.
