Church’s Chicken Targets Younger Set with Video Game Campaign

Church’s Chicken reaching out to younger consumers with a marketing campaign promoting a new Namco Bandai Game video game “Afro Samurai.”

As the exclusive quick service restaurant sponsor of the game, Church’s Chicken will promote “Afro Samurai” with TV and radio spots on urban young-adult channels and through in-store merchandising. The company has also launched a sweepstakes, which offers the chance to win $7,500 and a customized “Afro Samurai” iPod player, or a copy of the game.

“Afro Samurai” is an animated video game that blends hip-hop overtones with Japanese inspired themes, and is based on the animated series of the same name. The game was released for the Xbox and Playstation entertainment systems on Tuesday.

“Gamers are an emerging loyal fan base akin to those of traditional sports like football or basketball,” Farnaz Wallace, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Church’s Chicken, in a statement. “We made a strategic decision to be more steadfast in spending time, research and money in targeting to this growing influential segment.”
The fast food chain ran a similar promotion last year supporting “Soulcalibur IV,” which drew about 17,300 entries. Of those, about 20% of entrants requested coupons and promotional information from the brand, the company said. The campaign also boosted traffic to Church’s Web site by an average of 30%.
Church’s Chicken is also working with Coca-Cola to target young consumers using text messaging. Under the “Be Heard” promotion, customers can text a code on their cell phones or other mobile devices for Church’s Chicken coupons and a chance to win $1,000 in cash. Prizes will be awarded each week during the nine-week promotion.