NARRATOR: It is a humiliating sight for one of the country's biggest food brands. 

- Hundreds of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants across the UK were forced to shut down over the weekend. 

- My first reaction, in all honesty, was, you want me to write fuck on a bucket? 

- We knew that it was very serious. So by that moment, when we locked ourselves in a room, to coming up with it, it was literally 24 hours. 

- We've tweaked the copy a bit, but have a look again. And my second reaction was, seriously, you want me to turn my brand into a swear word? We put it under the nose of one of the-- one of our lawyers, and she just instantly smiled. And we just knew people were going to smile at this. 

- We, we, we know this guy so well now. And we knew that the last thing they would want to do at that moment is to put out a very robotic corporate message. I'm in the firm belief that they would have preferred to do nothing than to put something that is uncharacteristic. And we've seen so many of those bad ads. In my humble opinion, they make the situation worse. 

And luckily for us again, the British have such a knack for a sense of humor. They love to make light of situations. They use swear in a very sophisticated way. 

- What we needed at that time was something that showed vulnerably, I guess, us as humans, and showed the humanity that sits within the brand. You know, I guess I articulate it as we are extraordinarily lucky, I think, as marketers working in KFC and in Yum, that Yum believe that if you want the best work and you want the best talent, creating the best work, you need the teams that are on the ground, that are close to the customer, and close to the cultural context, empowered and autonomous to make the right decisions for their market. 

And so that's what you do get around the world, which is local teams making brand decisions and advertising decisions and communications decisions that are right for their customers and their markets. 

- But in times of crisis, maybe it's a good idea to call your agencies as well as your lawyers. 

MEG FARREN: We called you right away. 

[LAUGHTER]