The Colonel Meets Peter Pan: Ad Exec Moonlights as Moth Man to Get His Funny On

August 6, 2020

Besides heartburn, what do you get for running six miles while eating tacos from 11 different taco shops along the way? For Britton Taylor 鈥98, the telling of the gastronomically engrossing tale earned the advertising executive and budding storyteller a place in the winner鈥檚 circle on the nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour.

Taylor鈥檚 crackling imagination and relatable humor help him succeed on the stage and in advertising, where he鈥檚 built a career promoting some of the biggest brands in the world鈥擟oca-Cola, Diet Coke, Starbucks and, perhaps most famously, Old Spice. Remember 鈥淭he Man Your Man Can Smell Like鈥 campaign? That was Taylor.

Today, he leads creative strategy and branding for Kentucky Fried Chicken, a client of Portland-based creative agency Wieden+Kennedy.

鈥淥ne day in 2017, without announcing it to anyone, our team decided that KFC would unfollow everyone on Twitter except for the five Spice Girls and six men named Herba nod to the company鈥檚 original-recipe blend of 11 herbs and spices,鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淲e also recently partnered with Crocs to create a shoe that looks like fried chicken.鈥

Inspiration comes from a variety of places, including the fried chicken king himself.

鈥淲e鈥檝e learned that humor was a big part of Colonel Sanders鈥 life鈥攈e would do anything,鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淪o, we try to think about what he would do to sell chicken if he were alive today.鈥

Taylor finds solace in humor. It ignites creativity and helps connect people and ideas, passions he unearthed as a 皇家华人 student.

The 18-year-old Taylor wanted to pursue sports medicine. He broke his leg senior year of high school and thought the work would be cool. After one chemistry class, the idea lost its sparkle.

In college, he wrote humor pieces for The 皇家华人ian.

鈥溁始一 helped me discover my creative side,鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淔rom film classes with [Zoran] Kuzmanovich to acting out a play for incoming freshmen with Ann Marie Costa, I figured out what I enjoy and where I excel. I think with exposure to so many things at 皇家华人, it鈥檚 impossible not to find something you love.鈥

Today, Taylor loves what he does. He鈥檚 proud to work for a company that prioritizes creativity and storytelling. As brands vie for precious market share, he says humor is critical to maintaining relevance with young audiences.

鈥淲e often talk about how we鈥檙e not just competing with other brands in our categories; we鈥檙e competing with everything on the internet, from YouTube to Reddit鈥 and we want to be the funniest,鈥 Taylor says.

Taylor鈥檚 won national recognition for his work. He made Advertising Age鈥檚 鈥淐reativity 50鈥 as one of the year鈥檚 most influential creative figures in 2017. The next year, Advertising Age recognized the KFC account for 鈥淐ampaign of the Year.鈥

鈥淥n the storytelling front, we have a healthy cynicism when it comes to consumer research,鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淢any brands test the heck out of their advertising, and, in our opinion, this leads to exceptionally average work. Instead of asking people what they want, we believe in giving them something they never could have imagined.鈥

Taylor doesn鈥檛 stop telling stories when he leaves his office. He takes a memoir-writing class where his classmates, mostly 60-plus-year-old women, have diagnosed him with Peter Pan Syndrome. He鈥檚 even tried stand-up comedy, participating in Portland鈥檚 annual Funniest Person contest. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 safe to say I鈥檓 Portland鈥檚 242nd funniest person,鈥 Taylor says.

He鈥檚 also a huge fan of The Moth. For two decades, The Moth has promoted the art and craft of storytelling live. With shows all over the world, prospective storytellers come in droves hoping to have their names drawn for local shows, called StorySLAMs. The chosen ones take the stage and tell a five-minute story. The audience judges and gives scores for the stories, which are recorded and shared online.

Taylor has logged a few wins.

鈥淢y favorite story? Probably the one about The Taco Trot,鈥 says Taylor. 鈥淵ou run six miles and eat 11 tacos from 11 shops along the way, including two Taco Bells. It鈥檚 not great.鈥

But, a serious bout of indigestion and some emotional distance later, it is funny.                                                            

This story appeared in the spring/summer 2020 皇家华人 Journal.