I have issues with a (more than) a few sponsorships.  This is primarily because much of the time I don’t see the sponsors getting value from their relationships with sports teams.  But there is one that is so totally and completely fantastic that I literally cannot wrap my head around it.

KFC and the Cricket.

KFC has becoming synonymous with cricket and summer time and it is, by far, one of the best sponsorships I have EVER seen.  And yes, that includes the US. 

The relationship is so strong that people don’t even think of eating another food while watching the cricket (unless we’re talking BBQs, but that doesn’t REALLY count) and if they do… they do so knowing that they really SHOULD be eating KFC (no one SHOULD be eating fast food, but you know what I mean).  Australia has even built an entire culture around KFC and the cricket.  I mean, your cricket army is called ‘BUCKET HEADS’ for crying out loud.  YOU LITERALLY WEAR KFC BUCKETS ON YOUR HEADS.

I can’t think of anything more awesome.  KFC has gotten so much out of this sponsorship and this sort of activation and awareness is something that all sponsors should strive for in their relationships with sports teams.  Clearly, they’ll have to do it differently (you couldn’t exactly wear a Volkswagen on your head, for instance and you probably couldn’t get a bank to change their colours) but the idea that a brand and a sports team go hand-in-hand is spectacular. 

I wish I was writing this post to tell you how KFC did it.  But I have no idea how they did it, probably because this sponsorship/relationship LONG pre-dates my time in Australia.

So I put it to you.  Help me out.  How has KFC done this?  What do you think about their sponsorship of Australian Cricket?