KFC is changing its recipe. Not the way it seasons chickens — it perfected that a long time ago.
But it is reaching for a new audience: 18- to 25-year olds in need of a place to grab lunch. And that requires a whole new way of marketing.
For one thing, the fast-food chain is spending more money online. And it is tailoring promotions specifically for that medium.
Not that it has forsaken its traditional audience — moms looking for dinnertime fare. And it maintains a full menu of both online and offline promotion. In February, it ran a “Touch Test” to gauge whether customers preferred a warm or cold chicken wrap. (Warm won out.)
Founded in 1955, KFC has 5,400 restaurants in 50 states. Promo recently spoke with James O’Reilly, KFC’s CMO, who has been on the job for 18 months.
PROMO: How important is online?
O’Reilly: It’s very important. This is our biggest year in online — we’re marketing KFC.com as a real destination site.
P: How will you do that?
O: One of our main growth strategies is to make KFC more relevant to younger consumers. They are active, on the go. They use the Web more often, and in more ways. For us, that means committing to a different media plan.
P: Can you elaborate?
O: We don’t share specific budget numbers. But we spent more on online advertising during the launch of our Toasted Wrap and a new ad campaign than we did for all of 2007. (According to TNS, KFC spent $3.1 million online through the first nine months of 2007; the full year figure wasn’t available at press time.) And we have a lot more spending still to go this year.
P: Are you shifting from traditional ad buys to online?
O: TV advertising is still the majority of our marketing spend. But we made the promotion plan stronger, and most of that is online. The objective is to put KFC around the consumer much more broadly than we have in the past.
P: What’s your promotion strategy?
O: Our ‘Life Tastes Better with KFC’ campaign drives everything we do — it’s a consistent message. We’re also creating a richer user experience based on our in-store promotion and television commercials. We recently held an online sweepstakes and gave away a $5,000 vacation for two to the Bahamas. The Web site features online games and quizzes to test knowledge about toasted wraps.
P: How do you drive people to the site?
O: The biggest way is through advertising on sites like ComedyCentral.com and TheOnion.com. We make sure our brand message is prominent in Web spaces and pages where users want to be. We get about 5 million unique visitors every month.
P: How about e-mail?
O: Yes, we also drive traffic with e-mail blasts. We send out about 1 million messages to our database every month based on the recipient’s location and customized by zip code. We also encouraged customers to forward the Toasted Challenge quiz to a friend so they could also download a coupon.
P: You offer coupons online?
O: Coupons are the most visited part of the Web site, we will continue to use them in the future. Consumers love being rewarded — it makes the KFC experience that much better.
P: What else can folks do on the site?
O: They can learn about our newest promotion. They can also find the location of their nearest KFC restaurant, access menu information, get detailed nutritional info, read about the history of KFC and Colonel Sanders and order KFC apparel and gift checks.
P: How long has the Web site been around?
O: It was launched in 1997. It is constantly being updated with fresh content and has undergone several design changes to remain consistent with the look of our brand.
P: What are your biggest challenges, and how are you tackling them?
O: One is finding ways to surround the customer. We do that by producing a strong online plan. Another, which we successfully addressed, is having too many messages out in the marketplace. We now sew everything together into one brand position.
P: What’s your favorite KFC item?
O: The Toasted Wrap. I can eat it when I am in my car — I can eat that product anywhere. I may have one tonight.
For more on consumer promotions, go to www.promomagazine.com.
