KFC France Unveils Its First Manga: ‘Crispy 2052’

Imagine… “An artificial intelligence trying to control the world, two friends ready to do anything to defend their restaurant, fighting and crispy replies”. This is the synopsis of Crispy 2052, a 164-page manga created… by KFC France and Havas Paris. Unlikely? Not so much for the Kentucky fast food chain, anchored in “pop culture” and which has already unveiled, in December 2022, its collection of clothing honoring Colonel Sanders – founder and emblem of the brand – manga version . With this “cyber-punk” epic, this time, KFC aims to extend its retro-futuristic campaign “Forever Crispy”.

The back cover of Crispy 2052 says more about this story which seems “tempting”: “Prentiss is cooking crispy chicken in his restaurant when a henchman comes to threaten him. A mysterious sponsor would indeed like to get his hands on the establishment and the secret it contains . In the company of Lyla, the rocker waitress, and Dafool, an old hacker friend, Prentiss will have to face the entity that runs the Zanith Corporation to save his restaurant… and the world.”

Crispy 2052 : 8 months of work for a “crunchy” manga

Produced in France, and published by Editis, this manga, signed Dalmasso and Stanley, required more than 8 months of work. “The screenwriter and the designer we worked with did a crazy job in record time. We launched the idea then we gave them carte blanche for the rest. The result went beyond our expectations!” , explain Jordan Molina and Ludovic Miege, associate creative directors at Havas Paris, in a press release. Crispy 2052 has been sold since November 9 in France and Belgium in nearly 530 points of sale (regular points of sale and independent bookstores) at the price of 7.20 euros.

The release of the manga is supported by a social media campaign, via content creators but also thanks to a powerful campaign on Tiktok which draws on the #Booktok trend. DOOH displays and an event corner are also planned at Fnac Saint-Lazare in the second half of November.

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