Krystal

Sometimes the best way forward... is from the side.

insight

Everyone had a main chicken sandwich. That didn’t mean they were faithful.

Every QSR brand had entered the chicken sandwich wars with the same basic promise: bigger, crispier, juicier, better.

But Krystal was never going to win by pretending to be a giant. Its advantage was the opposite: small, craveable, snackable, Southern, and flirting with bad decisions.

The real behavior was hiding in plain sight. People don’t just abandon their favorite chicken sandwich because another brand yells “crispy” louder.

But they will cheat on it.

Not with a big commitment. Just a little something on the side.

So Krystal stopped trying to be the main chicken sandwich and claimed a far more ownable role:

The chicken sandwich you should sneak around with.

iDEA

Enter the Side Chik.

A chicken slider with side-piece energy.

We didn’t just name the product. We gave it a role in culture.

Side Chik made the strategy instantly obvious: you don’t have to leave your main chicken sandwich. You can keep your favorite and still mess around with Krystal.

With Brittany Renner as the perfect cultural accomplice, the campaign didn’t have to over-explain the joke. It just let it loose, turning a small chicken slider into a big, shareable cultural moment.

You don’t have to ditch your main chicken sandwich. Krystal just wants to be your Side Chik

The name instantly captured the idea: Krystal wasn’t trying to replace your favorite chicken sandwich. It was positioning itself as the indulgent extra. Because the phrase already lives across memes, celebrity gossip, and relationship humor, the campaign was designed for the internet first.

Influencers like Brittany Renner, 2 Chainz, and Charlamagne Tha God brought the concept to life through personality-driven content that fully leaned into the joke and the cultural conversation.

The work focused on entertainment and participation — creating a social ecosystem where the idea could spread far beyond Krystal’s own channels.

With cultural momentum going strong, we fueled the campaign with OOH, in-store, and social activations designed for maximum reach.

1

earned media impressions

3

social conversations

78

positive net sentiment

3

Chik sales

12

sales increase across key DMAs

IMPACT

The side that stole the show.

In one of the most crowded categories in QSR, Krystal cut through by refusing to compete on the same terms as everyone else.

Krystal’s Side Chik quickly became a conversation driver across social and entertainment media, generating over 1 billion earned media impressions and 3.1 million social conversations, while maintaining 78% positive sentiment.

More importantly, the idea translated to behavior.

By positioning the slider as the indulgent extra rather than the main event, Krystal created a new ordering habit — helping drive a 3X increase in Chik sales and a 12% lift in sales across key markets.

Krystal didn’t win the Chicken Sandwich Wars. We rewrote the rules of how to participate in them.