Earlier this month, W+K Portland replaced Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders with fellow SNL alum Norm Macdonald. Now, Norm is back for a pair of brief “Fryerside Chats.”
(This new work is more an addendum to previous spots than a new phase in the campaign. It will only appear on social media, so it’s not really meant to be viewed as a full chapter. But we got the pitch, so…)
The agency introduces the concept with “Meet My Fryer,” in which Macdonald remarks on how the president used to do fireside chats. “I always wanted to do something like that for my Kentucky Fried Chicken, so welcome to my fryerside chat,” says Macdonald, adding “That’s my fryer and I’m going to chat beside it,” to reinforce the obvious joke.
The second spot is just as brief. It acts as a brief plug for KFC’s $5 Fill Ups, with Macdonald remarking on how while five dollars doesn’t stretch like it used to, it at least gets you “an abundant amount of food,” ending with the line, “Take that, inflation.”
Whatever momentum W+K Portland and KFC may have gained with the switch to a new Colonel Sanders seems to have cooled off fast, as the new spots feel more like afterthoughts. The agency is going to have to mix up the formula to draw viewers’ attention and create something memorable, as the couple of half-jokes here fail to do either.
If the client’s Colonel turnover rate remains the same as it did from Hammond to Macdonald, KFC will have a new SNL alum playing Colonel Sanders by Thanksgiving. It’s hard to say if that will be a good thing or not.