Have you spotted any rogue chickens roaming Toronto?

St. Louis Bar & Grill has been unleashing 30 six-foot chickens across downtown Toronto patios, streets and subway platforms, to take pictures with pedestrians and distribute gift cards, merch and Hockey Hall of Fame passes.

Royal Nasager, VP of marketing and strategic partnerships for Aegis (operator of St. Louis Bar & Grill), tells Media in Canada that the activation was created to capture the energetic chaos of the brand’s summer promotion, Wingsanity – offering customers all-you-can-eat wings for $24.99 – and transform it into a humorous experience.

“As our biggest event of the year, Wingsanity is a big cluckin’ deal, so it only made sense to launch our biggest activation yet,” Nasager says. The goal is to drive visibility, boost in-store traffic and embody the brand’s identity through its annual promotion.

Wingsanity runs until July 6 at all St. Louis Bar & Grill locations nationwide. So far, nearly 1.7 million wings have been consumed, with a goal of 3 million by the campaign’s end. If the brand reaches this target, one customer will win “wings for life.”

Middle Child, PR AOR for St. Louis Bar & Grill, developed and executed the campaign, including earned media and XM, with Operatic Agency managing the brand’s main social media and paid media amplification.

According to Nasager, the stunt aligns with St. Louis’ “bold, loud and unapologetic” brand positioning, which is all about bringing its promotions to life through shareable experiences on social media.

For its 2022 Wingsanity promotion, St. Louis ran an “Epic Wet Nap” campaign featuring a wet wipe 25 times larger than usual. For Wingsanity in 2023, the chain rolled out limited “Clean as Cluck” rain ponchos – an activation that included video assets on social media showing how the poncho would help protect customers from the saucy mess of a storm of wings.

“This year, we’ve taken that same playful spirit and amplified it dramatically,” Nasager says . “It’s not a shift in direction – it’s a louder, bolder expression of Wingsanity. It’s an attempt to exemplify the fun of our can’t-miss onsite restaurant experience, offsite.”

The latest campaign is aimed at young adults and millennials who seek value-driven eating experiences, owing to their high social media participation, says Nasager.

The media spend was comparable to other social network-driven initiatives, which have primarily targeted TikTok.