Adweek: KFC Quietly Followed 11 Herbs and Spices on Twitter, Then Waited to See If Anyone Would Notice

Fans of KFC who follow the brand on Twitter have noticed something different—the brand only follows 11 people. Even though brands’ followers don’t typically make headlines, Adweek notes that it’s the names tied to the accounts that make it newsworthy. The people that KFC follows are made up of six men named Herb and all five of the Spice Girls, representing its fried chicken recipe that has 11 herbs and spices.

After one user noticed the publicity stunt-- @edgette22—the Tweet went viral. And that’s exactly what KFC and its creative shop were hoping for.

In a statement quoted by Adweek, Freddie Powell, creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, said, “We planted this on Twitter over a month ago. Frankly, we weren’t sure if anybody was going to find it. Sometimes you just have to put stuff out into the universe and cross your fingers that the internet will work its magic.”