🍗 $0 Ad vs. $7M Super Bowl Ad: The KFC Easter Egg Strategy

You all know I’m kind of obsessed with KFC. 😅

Not the food necessarily (although, full disclosure: I’d risk public embarrassment for those potato bowls).

I’m obsessed with their their we’re-not-here-to-mess-around marketing. Specifically, the way this giant fried-chicken empire pulled off one of the simplest, sharpest and most celebrated marketing stunts in the last decade…and did it with zero ad spend.

This is the story of that one time KFC unfollowed everyone except for 11 people on Twitter, broke the internet, and reminded every CMO on the planet that sometimes… the best ideas look like no idea at all.

🐦 The Setup: Throwback to When Twitter Was Fun

2017 Twitter wasn’t the doom-scroll battlefield it is today. It was chaotic, meme-driven, and still carried that underdog discovery energy.

Back then, brands were just starting to realize they needed a personality to win (something I wish modern brands would tattoo on their forehead).

It wasn’t enough to post product shots with corporate-approved captions like “Happy Friday! Who’s hungry? 🙃” anymore.

The internet wanted blood…or at least good banter.

Wendy’s leaned all the way in. They weren’t just tweeting “4 for $4.” They were absolutely torching people’s taste in movies, dragging Burger King’s frozen patties through the dirt, and telling McDonald’s to sit down every time they launched something mediocre. (There’s literally a tweet where Wendy’s replied to a guy asking “what should I get at McDonald’s?” with: “Directions to the nearest Wendy’s.” 🔥 Savage.)

MoonPie went the opposite route. Their account felt like the internet’s quirky little cousin who’d wander into your feed talking about “the moon being a big ol’ rock I want to eat for breakfast.” It was absurd. It was random. It made no sense, and that was the point. People followed because it felt human, not corporate.

Meanwhile, Denny’s Tumblr blog was posting surreal, meme-driven content like a pancake stack screaming into the void. No call-to-action. No link to the menu. Just weird breakfast chaos that teens actually reblogged because it felt like the internet, not like an ad.

Even Oreo, coming off their famous “You Can Still Dunk in the Dark” tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout, was pushing brands to be fast and clever because the internet was rewarding wit left and right.

Every social media manager on the planet was under an ungodly amount pressure to “go viral”. It was chaos, but the brave few that leaned into voice and personality hit and hit hard. The rest drowned in beige content.

KFC did something entirely different though….they chose restraint.

Instead of shouting into the void like their fast food peers, they whispered…

And then broke the entire internet.

🌿 The Stunt: 11 Herbs & Spices

Since the internet was already overflowing with brands dunking on each other, KFC had to find a way to stand out without just piling onto the noise.

Here’s what they did:

One random afternoon, their social team unfollowed everyone…(we’re talking hundreds of thousands of followers) and then followed exactly 11 people:

Five of the accounts they followed were members of the Spice Girls.
Six of the accounts they followed were random guys named Herb.

That’s it. No tweet to explain it. No wink emoji. Just a breadcrumb trail (and a subtle nod to their iconic “11 herb and spices” USP) sitting in plain sight, waiting for the internet to notice.

It took weeks before anyone would. But then one fan spotted it, tweeted a screenshot, and the internet exploded…

📈 The Numbers

• The discovery tweet shot out the gate with 320,000+ retweets and 700,000+ likes.

• Impressions hit nearly 2.5 billion in just two weeks.

• Media coverage was insane: Adweek, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, late-night talk shows…everyone was talking about it (which gave KFC millions in free press.)

Cost for this campaign: essentially $0.

With all the buzz, retweets, and headlines flying around, you’d think KFC would be basking in clear proof of victory after this insane stunt, right?

Here’s the funny part: we actually don’t know what happened after they launched it. 😅

KFC never dropped hard numbers on what this brand-centric, hilariously random, but ridiculously sharp stunt did for their bottom line. From what I can tell, there is no neat little “sales lifted 12% that quarter” press release to be found.

What we do have are billions of impressions, wall-to-wall global press, and a case study people are still talking about nearly a decade later.

Which tells you something pretty important about this style of marketing: sometimes the real ROI isn’t the short-term sales bump…it’s owning a moment in culture that compounds for years.

🧠 Why It Worked (The Psychology)

Let’s break down the psychology and science behind KFC’s “11 Herbs and Spices Easter Egg” campaign step-by-step (because the psychology behind this is fascinating!)

1. Mystery > Megaphones

Instead of announcing they were running a scavenger hunt and letting the masses in on the secret up front, they let the internet discover it by sheer luck…which was genius. Humans are wired for curiosity. Give someone a puzzle, and their brain lights up like a slot machine.

Takeaway: Stop announcing every clever thing you do. Hide it. Let people find it. Discovery beats delivery every single time because when customers feel like they cracked the code, they don’t just buy in…they go all in.

2. Identity Fit > Random Cleverness

The stunt only worked because it was tied directly to KFC’s DNA. Everyone already knows “11 Herbs & Spices” is KFC’s thing…it’s one of the most iconic taglines in fast food. So when people noticed the 11 follows, the joke landed instantly. If another brand had tried this with no anchor point (say Pepsi following 7 random accountants), it wouldn’t even register. Cleverness is it’s own form of celebrity, and if you can be clever + reinforce who you already are…that’s brand building.

Takeaway: Don’t chase “funny” for funny’s sake. Anchor your creative stunts in something people already associate with your brand. Otherwise, the punchline falls flat.

3. Cognitive Reward = Viral Fuel

The best part of the stunt wasn’t the stunt itself, it was the “aha” moment. When people cracked the code, they felt clever. And when we feel clever, we naturally want to share it (because what good is being clever if other people don’t know about it?? 😅) Sharing isn’t about helping the brand, it’s about signaling to our peers that we got the joke first. That tiny dopamine hit turned one fan’s discovery into 320,000 retweets and billions of impressions. The reward wasn’t chicken, discounts, or free meals. It was status. And to humans, status is delicious.

Takeaway: Build campaigns that make your audience feel smart, not just entertained. If they get to flex by sharing it, you’ve given them a reason to spread your message for free.

4. Contrast Effect

At the exact moment when brands were shouting louder, roasting harder, and posting meme after meme, KFC whispered. And that’s why it worked. In psychology, contrast is everything. We don’t notice what blends in, we notice what breaks the pattern. By doing less, they stood out more. It’s the same reason a pause in a speech gets more attention than the words themselves.

Takeaway: You don’t always need to go bigger. Sometimes the smartest move is subtraction. Contrast makes people look twice.

5. Zeigarnik Effect

The brilliance of following 11 random accounts is that it created an open loop in people’s brains. “Why 11? Why these people?” That tension gnawed at you until the punchline clicked. Psychologists call this the “Zeigarnik Effect” the tendency to remember and obsess over unfinished things. KFC turned their follower list into a cliffhanger, and the resolution made the payoff even sweeter.

Takeaway: Don’t close every loop in your marketing. Leave gaps. Leave mystery. People will stick around — and share — just to scratch the itch.

🍟 How To Steal This (Without Copying)

Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking: you’re not KFC. You don’t have global brand awareness or a century-old slogan. How the heck does this apply to what you’re building? How do you apply this? Here’s how:

1. Find your “11 herbs & spices.”
   What’s the phrase, promise, or cultural shorthand people already know you for? Anchor your Easter egg in that.

2. Hide it in plain sight.
   Bury it in your product design, your website footer, or your social bio. Don’t announce it, let fans discover it.

3. Reward the finders.
   KFC mailed the guy who spotted it a custom oil painting. Over the top? Yes. Memorable? Absolutely.

4. Document the discovery.
   When someone finds it, amplify them. Screenshot their tweet. Share their reaction. Make them the hero.

5. Play the long game.
   Not every Easter egg blows up. But if it fits your identity, it compounds trust over time.

🥊 Hot Take: Easter Eggs Beat Super Bowl Ads

On average, brands spent about $7 million for 30 seconds in the Super Bowl last year.

KFC spent basically nothing on this campaign and won a decade of free case studies.

Why? Because Super Bowl ads are forced. Easter eggs are chosen.

And chosen attention always outperforms purchased attention.

⚡️ For DTC and E-com Founders

If you’re running ads, you’re probably chasing metrics: CTR, CAC, ROAS. But Easter eggs hit a different KPI: cultural stickiness.

That doesn’t show up in Ads Manager. But it shows up in word of mouth, in screenshots, in the way your customers talk about you.

So ask yourself:

• What’s the inside joke my brand could tell?

• What’s the secret handshake my customers would brag about finding?

• How can I engineer discovery instead of forcing delivery?

📝 TLDR on this one…

KFC’s “11 Herbs & Spices” stunt worked because it was:

• Simple

• On-brand

• Discovered, not announced

The psychology is timeless: people remember what they find, not what they’re fed.

At the end of the day, KFC didn’t need to spend millions, they didn’t need to hire a celebrity, and they didn’t need to try to out-scream every other brand fighting for attention in the feed.

They won because they understood something most marketers still miss: people don’t remember what you tell them…they remember what they discover about you.

That’s the moat. 🏰

And the best part? You don’t need to be KFC to pull it off. You just need to understand the psychology behind why it worked and then bake that into your own playbook.

That’s exactly what we’re doing every week inside Tether Lab: breaking down the smartest campaigns in the world, pulling out the psychology beneath them, and turning those insights into repeatable systems you can actually run.

So if this newsletter gave you even one “aha” moment, come join us. Because inside the Lab, you’re not just reading about billion-dollar brands…you’re building the frameworks that let you outsmart them.

👉 [Join Tether Lab on Skool]

Until next time,
🦕 Sarah

🚨 Dex’s Trend Alert: 10,000% Surge…When Men Start Googling Cottage Decor

This week’s runaway trend isn’t sneakers, gaming chairs, or gadgets…
It’s “earthy cottage home decor.”

↑ 10,000% in the past month
↑ 10,000% year-over-year
↓ 20% week over week (post-spike cooldown)

The majority is still 70% women—no surprise.
But here’s what is surprising: 20% of searchers are men.
Which means cottage-core is starting to cross the gender line.

📈 The Signal:
The rise of earthy cottage isn’t just a Pinterest-core female aesthetic.
When 1 in 5 searchers are men, that means something bigger is shifting.

• Gender crossover. Home as identity is no longer coded female-only.

• Aesthetic adoption. Men aren’t just tolerating style choices—they’re actively seeking them.

• Cultural signal. “Earthy” decor is giving men permission to show taste without feeling frivolous.

This isn’t just decor—it’s masculinity re-styled in muted linen and woodgrain.

🧠 The Diagnosis:
Why the male 20% matters:

• The “Soft Life” pull. Men are tapping into aesthetics that lean calm, not conquest.

• Relationship dynamics. Couples are co-searching, co-pinning, co-buying. Purchase power is shared.

• New flex. Tasteful home setups are becoming a social currency for men—the same way sneakers or cars once were.

In short: the cottage isn’t hers anymore—it’s theirs.

📌 How to capitalize on this trend:

🏡 For DTC Brands
Run dual-lens ads.
→ Female-angled: “Your space, your sanctuary.”
→ Male-angled: “Upgrade your setup: taste, not clutter.”

🎥 For Creators & Media Buyers
Test masculine-coded POVs.
→ TikTok hook: “Bro… why does this lamp make my apartment feel like therapy?”
→ Blend humor with aspirational styling.

🧠 For Strategists
Spot the whitespace: men’s home decor is under-branded.
→ Build positioning that doesn’t feminize, but doesn’t hyper-masculinize either.
→ Earthy = the middle ground where both genders play.

💡 Pro Move:
Bundle male-targeted “entry point” products—lamps, rugs, shelving—under “The Setup Upgrade.” A softer door into the full cottage aesthetic.

Until next time—
Stay curious.

– Dex 🦖