News

KFC seeking innovative ideas from fans

January 5, 2011

Highlighting KFC’s sauceless, no-mess Hot Wings, the chain is looking for creative, inspiring or charitable ideas from its fans on how to repurpose its “unneeded” wet wipes.

Five finalists will be selected to produce videos illustrating their ideas, and YouTube viewers will vote for the grand prize winner, who will win a $10,000 grant.

The contest is already underway. Participants should send their innovative ideas in writing to KFCSaucelessWings@gmail.com.

From those entries, five finalists will be selected and will receive $500, a supply of 1,000 wet wipes and a hand-held video camera to bring their ideas to fruition. The finalists’ videos will then be uploaded to KFC’s YouTube channel on Jan. 20, when voting will be open to viewers from across the country.

The video/innovation that best captures the idea of great taste and good, clean fun embodied in KFC’s sauceless wings will earn the grand prize.

“KFC has cleaned up the act of eating wings because our Hot Wings taste so good, they don’t need sauce. Now we’re looking for some forward thinking on what to do with the ‘surplus’ wet wipes,” said John Cywinski, chief marketing and food innovation officer for KFC.

KFC’s sauceless Hot Wings start crunchy and finish spicy. For a limited time, KFC is offering a 20 Hot Wings deal for $10 plus tax. (Pricing and participation may vary by location.)

The National Chicken Council (NCC) estimates that Americans will eat more than 13.5 billion chicken wings (more than 3 billion pounds) in 2011, with demand spiking in January because of college football bowl games and NFL playoffs.