The Work That Was revisits the stories that made the strategy newsroom laugh, think twice or do a double take this week, rounding up campaigns, strategies and industry moments that shaped the marketing landscape.

Image courtesy of KFC Canada

The secret ingredient to home sales

It’s hard to imagine a more stereotypically American quick-service restaurant than KFC. The Down South charm embedded there in the name, despite the now decades-old initialism. The Finger-Lickin’-Good, Double Downedness of it all.

Yet KFC Canada and Courage keep finding ways to Canadianize the whole thing.

To many people’s surprise, Colonel Sanders himself once kept his home, part time, in the GTA suburbs. And when the modest Mississauga bungalow he lived in from 1965 to 1980 went up for sale for $1,499,999 (modest indeed in this economy) in early June, it created an online stir. But for weeks, it still sat unsold.

But when KFC Canada and its agency of record got involved, drawing attention for a campaign launched July 2 that offered a year’s worth of free fried chicken to anyone who purchased the property, the house sold in just days (for an estimated $1,436,000, according to tracking data from HouseSigma.)

As Courage – and a Fox News subsidiary out of Milwaukee (seems reliable) – said, “All it took was a Finger Lickin’ Good incentive.”

Schneiders finds the perfect pitchman

Food marketing was on a bit of a heater this week. Fried chicken did more than its share of the heavy lifting. The Slurpee (which is kind of classy now, thanks to Collective Arts) celebrated its 60th year. And glizzies, of course, also got their due.

Which brings us to one of the week’s simplest – and most-read – ideas: Maple Leaf Foods naming Blue Jays manager John Schneider the Official Hot Dog Manager for Schneiders Loonie Dog Night for Tuesday night games at Rogers Centre. Conceptualized and executed by T1 Agency, with a retro-inspired merch drop designed by Rethink, shows that sometimes the best ideas are the ones that make you wonder how nobody thought of them sooner.

Toronto after the final whistle

With the men’s national team exiting last week after a loss to Morocco and the country’s hosting duties now over after the Colombia-Switzerland round of 16 match on July 7, some of the excitement around the World Cup has naturally ebbed in Canada.

Which raises the question: What comes next? Destination Toronto’s “TO Glow” provides an answer.

The campaign by Lifelong Crush reminds would-be visitors that some of the city’s best summer moments are still ahead, encouraging residents from Ontario, Quebec and nearby U.S. states to take in the city’s festivals, patios, restaurants and many multicultural attractions.

“We always knew the opportunity was bigger than the matches themselves,” Destination Toronto CMO Paula Port told strategy.

The World Cup may be over in Toronto, but the marketing opportunity certainly isn’t.

– Images courtesy of Maple Leaf Foods and Destination TO