KFC India becomes first QSR brand to advertise on ChatGPT

MUMBAI: The chicken has landed in the chat. KFC India has started advertising on ChatGPT, becoming the first quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand to advertise on the AI platform, according to Gurjot Shah Singh, SVP, EssenceMediacom.

Singh announced the development on LinkedIn, saying KFC’s first ads are now live on ChatGPT and describing the move as a shift “from the search bar to the conversation” as consumers increasingly turn to AI and large language models (LLMs) for recommendations and decisions.

For a brand built around the perennial question of “what to order” and “what sounds good tonight”, the move puts KFC inside the conversation at the point where food choices are being made.

Singh called the campaign “the first ads of the post-search era”, arguing that the development is about more than a new media placement. He described it as a sign of where consumer discovery is heading, with AI conversations increasingly becoming part of the decision-making journey.

The KFC campaign comes as other brands test the same advertising territory in India. Personal care brand Mamaearth has partnered with Criteo for advertising on ChatGPT, while Sebamed has worked with WPP Media on a ChatGPT campaign.

The developments follow OpenAI’s rollout of advertising on ChatGPT in India. Ads are being introduced for users on the Free and Go plans, with the India rollout expected to include more than 50 brands.

OpenAI has also launched its self-serve Ads Manager in India, allowing advertisers to create and manage campaigns on the platform.

For KFC, the experiment marks a move into an advertising environment where discovery does not necessarily begin with a typed search query. Instead, consumers can ask an AI assistant for recommendations, weigh options and make decisions within a conversation.

That changes the advertising pitch too. Rather than waiting for consumers to leave the conversation and visit a search engine, brands can attempt to appear closer to the moment when intent is formed.

Singh summed up the significance with a nod to advertising history, saying: “History remembers the first ad on TV. The first ad on Google. Let’s see this one.”

Whether ChatGPT advertising becomes the next big media habit remains to be seen, but KFC has clearly decided it is better to be on the menu than miss the conversation.