From the City to Shagz: KFC’s Home-Home Campaign Taps into a Shared African Reality

What’s acceptable in your city life but completely off-limits when you return “home-home” for the festive season?

That familiar tension sits at the heart of KFC’s new pan-African Home-Home campaign, which celebrates the dual lives many young Africans lead – one in the city, and another in the place they truly come from.

In Kenya, the trip back to rural roots is fondly known as “going to Shagz”, and across the continent there are countless local expressions for the same journey. No matter what it’s called, the experience is universal: a festive homecoming that brings laughter, culture shock and a long list of unspoken rules.

The Home-Home campaign leans into this shared reality, highlighting how parts of our city identities are often checked at the gate when we return home-home. Fashion choices change, behaviour softens, and freedom takes a back seat. But one thing remains universally welcome – the unmistakable, finger-lickin’ good taste of KFC.

“In the city, you can express yourself freely – tattoos, fashion, language, everything goes,” says Mukundi Munzhelele, KFC Marketing Director, EW&I and Marketing Excellence. “When you’re home-home, that freedom disappears and you’re expected to revert to your default settings. Thankfully, KFC always flies, whether you’re at home or home-home.”

Running throughout the festive season across multiple African markets, the campaign features branded films, out-of-home executions, radio, and social media activations. A key highlight is the #KFCHomeDos&Donts rollout, which has captured the imagination of audiences across the continent.

Through voice notes, comments and social replies, people are sharing the things they happily do in the city that would never be tolerated back home-home. Participants stand a chance to win KFC vouchers and prizes, adding to the buzz.

Influencers have also embraced the theme, sparking trends across social platforms. Travel vlogs and “home versus home-home” content have taken off, with humorous user-generated clips ranging from kids pranking their parents by calling them by their first names, to deliberately breaking household rules like leaving the TV on overnight.

From unwashed dishes and shoes worn indoors to bold fashion choices and speaking one’s mind too freely, many urban habits are quickly abandoned upon arrival home-home. Even sharing a bucket of KFC comes with its own unwritten rules: dad claims the biggest piece, negotiating for the last portion requires careful diplomacy, and the person who collects the order is never the one who pays.

Whether the festive bucket is enjoyed in the city or carried all the way back home-home, the joy of sharing KFC with family and friends remains unchanged.

Developed by KFC in partnership with lead agency Ogilvy, the Home-Home campaign draws from a deep cultural truth.

“The idea came from the insight that many urbanised Africans live parallel lives – one in the city and another within their extended family communities,” says Snooze Kambuwa, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy South Africa. “We wanted to celebrate that reality, with all the code-switching and playful compromise it involves, while showing that KFC belongs wherever you are – at home or home-home.”

The campaign has rolled out across Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Gabon and Mauritius, and will continue into early January.