Kentucky Fried Chicken has launched a new campaign aimed at positioning itself as a market leader in both quality and affordable fried chicken.

The campaign, developed with creative agency Courage and launching on April 11, trades on two strong pieces of brand equity for the QSR in Canada: the iconic Colonel Sanders’ likeness, and the beloved “Toonie Tuesdays” promotions of years past. It blends the two together for “Twosday,” a timely message launched amid high inflation and rising food and grocery costs that aims straight for the value-seeking Canadian consumer.

“We know Canadians are seeking value deals more than ever to aid with inflation. We also know that with the increases to food and grocery costs, they no longer perceive QSR as offering the same great value as it once did,” explains Laura Mallozzi, brand communications manager for KFC. For “Twosday,” KFC will sell two pieces of its original recipe dark meat or tenders for only $2.99 on Tuesdays. While not quite at the level of “Toonie Tuesdays” of past year, it is part of an effort to show that “value” doesn’t always mean rock-bottom prices.

“True value comes from feeling great about what you’re receiving, versus what you paid for it,” Mallozzi says. “We’re providing Canadians great value on quality fried chicken. This promo is for menu items consumers actually want, at a price point where we are still practically giving it away for free.”

KFC is no stranger to value menu promotions, Mallozzi says, noting that the QSR has value offers available every day of the year. The problem is that “although we offer some of the most compelling value offers in the market, we don’t get credit for it,” she notes.

“We had a lot of one-off, rotating offers that didn’t consistently land. But our value strategy is built to maximize consumer demand and unlock transaction growth by bringing new consumers in,” Mallozzi says. “Our offers should make people stop in their tracks and come into KFC.”

That was the impetus for going large with this “Twosday” promotion. By tapping into “dormant brand equity,” KFC is hoping to grab Canadians’ attention and get them into its restaurants. A big part of that is through creative that shows a flustered Colonel Sanders trying to keep consumers from availing themselves of the value offers – be it through vandalizing the price point off of the QSR’s OOH ads to emailing consumers encouraging them to purchase a sandwich on Tuesday instead.

The campaign even goes so far as to see the Colonel writing a sternly worded letter to the brand, published as an ad in The Globe and Mail, that informs the QSR he does not approve of the new price point on his “masterpiece and life’s work,” Mallozzi says.

All of the creative is meant to show off the Colonel’s “feisty personality and huge passion for his secret recipe,” she adds. “He was known for walking into restaurants with no warning, straight into the back of house, inspecting what everyone was doing and cooking, and even doing taste tests and discarding entire batches of gravy that weren’t up to his standard.”

The QSR is betting big on this new messaging. Every piece of creative that has run as part of this launch for the Twosdays promotion is bespoke, Mallozzi says. “We’re giving this idea the space and spotlight it deserves across a 360-degree campaign where you won’t see any matching luggage.”

In addition to OOH, email and the Globe and Mail ad, the campaign is running across TV, OLV, KFC’s owned social channels and in-store at restaurants across Canada. It is also running digitally in the KFC app and on its website. Narrative handled PR for the campaign, while Wavemaker is handling the media buy.