After launching its Believe campaign last year with a hypnotic ad, KFC is back with a second chapter, All Hail Gravy. As the name suggests, the campaign film – directed by Vedran Rupic for a second time – turns one of KFC’s most beloved sides into a spiritual entity capable of miracles.

Deep in the woods, a lake of gravy awaits a crowd of chicken enthusiasts, one of whom partakes in a self-sacrificial ceremony involving a dunk in the gravy lake, which allows them to shed their lowly human body and emerge as a piece of glorious chicken.

The troupe of choreographed neutral-clad believers has echoes of old Yeezy events, but the ad comes with none of the same delusions of grandeur, instead offering the kind of surreal entertainment value we’ve come to expect of KFC and the Believe platform.

“No matter what side of advertising one is on, one should know that making films is transactional,” says Rupic. “You give the audience something, and perhaps they’ll reward you with something in the end. But if you’re just taking their attention to feed them your message, the transaction has failed. You give, you get. Few brands understand this as well as KFC.”

Mother ECD Martin Rose says that KFC’s audiences “understand that logic is parked for 120 seconds as we go deep into the symbolism of total chicken obsession. It’s a playful escape from the world.”

The TV spot is joined by a series of outdoor ads that appear to be doused in glistening gravy, along with activity in branches of KFC.

Credits:
Agency: Mother
Production Company: Business Club
Director: Vedran Rupic
DOP: Nico Poulsson
Edit House: Trim Editing
Post House: Black Kite Studios
Sound Studio: King Lear Studios
Music: fivehundred