Kentucky Fried Chicken has always been a strong competitor in the fast-food market, but its more recent focus on innovation has definitely kept it in the spotlight.  Just this week, the fast-food chain announced a unique new promotion for its Extra Crispy Chicken: Extra Crispy chicken-scented sunscreen.  Sound strange?  This unique invention may have started as an odd marketing gimmick, but when doors opened on Monday morning, participating restaurants quickly dispensed more than 3,000 bottles of the SPF 30 lotion.

When it comes to experimental campaigns, KFC isn’t afraid to jump in.  In 2015, the company announced that it was bringing edible coffee cups to its U.K. locations.  The new product, called the “Skoff-ee” cup, was made of cookie, paper sugar and white chocolate lining that would slowly dissolve into the hot coffee as a person was drinking it. The Colonel and his team enlisted experimental foods company, The Robin Collective, to come up with the design in celebration of introducing Seattle Best Coffee to its restaurants.

The company has also come up with edible nail polish, in the past.  Created as part of a promotion for its Hong Kong locations, the limited-time polish was made in both original and hot spicy chicken flavors.  Though the polish was never actually widely manufactured, consumers in Hong Kong were polled to see which flavor they preferred.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has long kept its “finger-lickin’ good” recipe under wraps, protected as a trade secret for decades.  This confidential recipe has helped make KFC one of the world’s most popular fast-food chains to date, with more than 18,000 locations world-wide.  To learn more about their innovative marketing strategies, visit www.kfc.com.