KFC Uses Twitter to Find Scholarship Applicants
KFC is using its Twitter account, @KFC_Colonel, to accept applications for its KFC Colonel’s Scholars. In other words, keep it short and sweet.
KFC is among other businesses giving Twitter a whirl as a means of seeking out applications, including those for jobs. BFG Communications went in search of a new assistant content manager asking applicants to get the point succinctly across about whom they were and what they had that other applicants did not. A new hire was found among 150 “applications”.
The promotion won a 2010 Promo Interactive Marketing Award in the New Media category.
The KFC marketing promotion began yesterday and continues through Nov. 26 offering high school seniors the chance to win $20,000 by drafting 140 characters or less that include the hashtag #KFCScholar. The tweet must explain why they exemplify Colonel Sander’s commitment to education and community service, and why they are deserving of a college scholarship.
The winner will learn Dec. 1 that he or she will receive up to $5,000 per year for the next four years to pursue a bachelor’s degree at an accredited public university within his or her home state. A second, traditional application process begins Dec. 1.
Now in its fifth year, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation awards each year more than 75 scholarships to high school students for a total of more than $5 million. The program is an independent charity supported by KFC, its employees and franchisees, and KFC patrons.
“This year, through one of the hottest emerging forms of media, we want to offer students a creative way to realize their dreams of obtaining a college education,” John Cywinski, chief marketing and food innovation officer for KFC, said in a release.
