To launch the 'Upside Down Double' burger, we didn’t just host a pop-up.
We engineered a portal to the 1980’s world of Stranger Things.
MY
ROLEs
EXPERIENCE NARRATIVE & FLOW
ART DIRECTION OF DESIGNED ASSETS
CREATIVE PRODUCTION CONCEPTS
PROP PLANNING
EXPEIENCE LOGISTICS
Welcome to hawkins fried chicken.
THE CHALLENGE
KFC had a rare chance: step into a global entertainment moment with huge fan anticipation and built-in cultural currency. The challenge was to ensure KFC didn’t just badge the IP but owned it. We had to engage younger, entertainment-led audiences while keeping the brand the hero. This required balancing fandom with flavor and immersive spectacle with brand clarity, ensuring KFC remained a protagonist in the narrative, not just a cameo in Hawkins.
THE THINKING
We tapped into the insight that both brands thrive on familiarity flipped on its head: KFC’s iconic comfort, Stranger Things’ nostalgic weird. Our strategy was to create “positive displacement”, a world that felt recognisably KFC, then slowly bent into something uncanny. Guardrails ensured the two brands never blurred, only danced: KFC first, Stranger Things second.
building Hawkins’ Fried Chicken
With sell-out attendance, Social earned 2.5M impressions and 131 press pieces reached 150M+ globally.
THE EXECUTION
Hidden beneath Sydney, a neon 80s KFC diner hummed with cosy nostalgia. Enjoying arcade bleeps, throwback tunes and the KFC Upside Down Double before guests stepped through a Rift into a fractured reality. Warped ads bled across tunnel walls, leading to an eerie blue world of vine-strangled Hawkins corridors and strange chaos. This immersive journey blurred misty 80s charm with the Upside Down, ending with a final squeeze through a living Rift.
WHAT WE MADE HAPPEN
From headlines to sold-out sessions, Hawkins Fried Chicken proved KFC doesn’t just join culture; it creates moments people compete to be part of.
