KFC Ireland has tapped into one of the more memorable celebrations of Ireland’s recent football story with a new campaign featuring Republic of Ireland striker Troy Parrott and comedian Emma Doran.
The campaign draws on Parrott’s revelation that he celebrated his dramatic hat-trick against Hungary with a KFC alongside his family.
KFC has now taken that connection several steps further, temporarily imagining the brand as KFP – Kentucky Fried Parrott.
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The video sees Doran swept up in “Troymania” as she unveils an increasingly ambitious rebrand in honour of the Irish international.
Parrott arrives to be told that, after everything he has done for Ireland, the brand felt it needed to do something for him.
Despite his insistence that nothing is required, Doran reveals that the work is already well underway.
Outside the restaurant, Colonel Sanders has been displaced from his familiar position above the door, replaced by Parrott’s face and the new Kentucky Fried Parrott identity.
Inside, the transformation continues.
Doran introduces redesigned tray papers, “Parrott Points” loyalty cards, new advertising creative, and staff uniforms incorporating Parrott’s name and number seven.
The menu receives similar treatment, with “Parrott Wings”, “Popcorn Parrott”, “Dips à la Parrott” and the “Parrott Zinger” all proposed as additions.
Parrott himself proves a considerably tougher audience than Doran.
“Why would you mess with the lovely juicy chicken?” he asks as the rebrand gathers pace.
A suggestion that chicken tenders could become “Seven-ders”, in honour of Parrott’s shirt number, fares little better, particularly when Doran concedes that “Ten-ders” would have made considerably more sense.
Eventually, Parrott cuts through the increasingly elaborate tribute by ordering a chicken tender meal and turning to camera with the more familiar invitation: “Do you want some KFC?”
The campaign closes with Doran outside the restaurant, reflecting ruefully over a bucket of chicken.
“I’ve let myself down… I’ve let the country down!”
The collaboration is a neat example of a brand moving quickly around a sporting moment which had already created an authentic connection with the product.
Parrott’s original post-match KFC celebration gave the brand a natural route into the conversation, while Doran’s involvement lets the activation lean heavily into humour rather than more conventional athlete endorsement territory.
“After the win against Hungary last year, I celebrated with a KFC, so getting to rename it Kentucky Fried Parrott feels like a pretty good follow-up,” said Parrott.
“I’m still more used to floodlights than spotlights, but it was a good bit of craic to be in front of the camera.
“It was great working with Emma Doran; she had us all laughing throughout the shoot. Hopefully people enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed filming it.”
Sohail Khan, Performance Marketing Lead at KFC, said the campaign grew directly from that original celebration.
“When we heard that Troy had marked such a memorable moment for Irish football with KFC, we knew we had to do something special to celebrate his love for the brand.
“It was a pleasure to team up with Troy and Emma to bring Kentucky Fried Parrott to life, putting a fun KFC spin on his passion for our chicken and a moment that captured the nation’s imagination.”
The KFC Zinger range remains available across its usual formats, including the Zinger Burger, Zinger Tower Burger and Zinger Box Meal.
The Parrott Zinger, however, remains very firmly a product of the campaign rather than the menu.
Sport for Business Perspective
The strongest element of the campaign is that the brand connection existed before the marketing idea.
Parrott choosing KFC as part of his family celebration created a genuine cultural moment for the brand to build on, rather than requiring an artificial link to be constructed afterwards.
Bringing Emma Doran into the execution also broadens the appeal beyond football and gives KFC the freedom to poke fun at the sometimes excessive lengths brands can go to when attaching themselves to sporting success.
Kentucky Fried Parrott may not be coming to a menu board any time soon, but as an example of turning an unscripted sporting moment into entertaining branded content, it lands well.
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Image Credit: KFC Ireland
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