07/20/2025
KFC generated 2.5B+ impressions and millions of free press with the most genius Twitter marketing stunt ever.
Here’s how they turned following 11 people into marketing gold. 👇
In the fall of 2017 KFC’s marketing team at Wieden+Kennedy had a crazy idea…
They quietly unfollowed all 35,000 accounts KFC was following on Twitter.
Then they followed exactly 11 new accounts.
Why 11?
Because KFC’s secret recipe contains 11 herbs and spices.
The number of people they followed was just the start of this genius marketing move.
The 11 accounts they followed were:
🎤 5 Spice Girls (the former British pop stars)
👨🦰 6 random guys named Herb
5 Spices + 6 Herbs = 11 Herbs & Spices 🤣
What’s crazy is they then posted nothing about it.
❌ No announcements.
❌ No press releases.
They just waited and for weeks, nobody noticed.
Until one random guy changed made the discovery and set off the viral explosion.
On October 19, 2017 Mike Edgette, a social media manager from South Dakota with just 90 followers, was scrolling Twitter.
He noticed something weird about KFC’s following list.
He then tweeted:
“ follows 11 people. Those 11 people? 5 Spice Girls and 6 guys named Herb. 11 Herbs & Spices. I need time to process this.”
Then the internet exploded and KFC went massively viral.
The numbers were insane:
🤯 715,000+ likes
🤯 322,000+ retweets
🤯 2.5 billion impressions in 2 weeks
🤯 360,000 mentions across all platforms
🤯 Featured on Today Show, Reddit front page, ABC News, TIME magazine
All from a campaign that cost absolutely nothing to produce.
But KFC wasn’t done with this campaign yet and Mike was in for quite a surprise.
Weeks later, Mike received a mysterious package.
Inside was a custom oil painting of him riding piggyback on Colonel Sanders through a scenic mountain landscape, waving a KFC drumstick.
Plus 52 $5 gift cards (a year’s worth) and a letter from the “Colonel” calling him “as crispy as they come.”
Mike’s responded with another tweet:
“Dreams DO come true. Thanks ”
The painting reveal generated another viral moment and wave of free press coverage.
Ford’s Chief Brand Officer Musa Tariq tweeted:
“To whomever runs the KFC Twitter account and thought of this. Call me whenever you need a job. You a genius.”
The marketing stunt won multiple D&AD awards for social media excellence.
Total media spend: $0
Total earned media value: Millions
How to apply these lessons to your marketing today:
1. Start with what makes your brand unique (your “secret sauce”).
2. Hide clever references in places your audience already checks (social profiles, website).
3. Make it rewarding to notice but not obvious (let discovery feel earned).
4. When someone finds it, amplify their moment publicly.
Remember that the best marketing shouldn’t look or feel like marketing at all.
