Megan Strand of InCouraged.com joined me in writing this post today!
Last Friday, Joe appropriately ranted that Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest “cause marketing” promotion (we cringe to even call it that) pushing mega-jugs of soda to “support” Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation was, well, chicken.
In this post, we team up and invite all cause marketers to pitch in for a public brainstorm for KFC about what types of cause marketing partnerships might make more sense for the quick serve chain. Other quick serve restaurants will no doubt benefit from the discussion!
Here are a few of our ideas – add yours in the comments below.
Go Local to Support Small Business. KFC began with the dream of a single businessman in the midst of the depression. Franchise owners could team up with local “Main Street” organizations to support or fund community events or local beautification programs. KFC would be taking a page out of its own playbook by going local. In 2009, it launched Re-Freshed by KFC, a local public works program in Louisville, Kentucky that filled unsightly potholes with fresh asphalt topped with the KFC logo.
Crowdsource an Online Competition. Again, going back to the entrepreneurial spirit of The Colonel, the brand could hold an online crowdsourced competition to award a grant to a promising entrepreneur. Local franchises could promote and fund the contest through in-store point-of-sale programming and collateral.
Support the Troops. After all, Sanders was “The Colonel” (a generous promotion considering he was a buck private in the army). It’s easy to see the tie in between The Colonel and families of deployed troops. Employees could deliver food to the families of troops once a month or organize and cater “welcome home” parties in local communities. Instead of the pink buckets that made so many people see red last year, let them see the stars and stripes with buckets that are red, white and blue.
Cross-Generational Mentoring. The Colonel once testified before Congress against the mandatory retirement age, arguing that there is tremendous value in the wisdom of older workers. In this spirit, why not implement, support and/or promote a mentoring program?
The Colonel’s secret flavor recipe of herbs and spices that creates the famous “finger lickin’ good” chicken remains a trade secret. But the recipe to KFC’s success is not. KFC must cut the cause marketing ties between its menu and health causes like cancer and diabetes. As we’ve shown above, there’s no shortage of non-health related causes to support.
If KFC really wants to help health causes, it could learn from McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald’s House Charities. RMHC doesn’t align itself with a particular disease or health charity. Instead, it aims to support programs that keep families together during medical treatments far from home.
If KFC is truly committed to supporting health causes and earning the wings and halo cause marketing gives serious brands, it should model its competitor that boasts not one, but two Golden Arches.
You’ve heard a few of our ideas – now it’s your turn! What cause marketing partnerships would make more sense for KFC? Share your creativity in the comments below.
Bandaids will not work for a company as enormous as KFC. Their biggest cause marketing campaign will need to be centred around making 1 or 2 small changes within their infrastructure that have enormous domino affects (from hormone injections to the state that KFC's chickens live in, to shipping, refrigeration, etc).
The best thing KFC can do is crowd source an idea for an internal shift and then work their way outwards to the community at large. Think PUMA and their box to bag. Clearly showed how one iteration in the "food chain" affectively created the positive affect they hoped for, a sustainable accountable outcome & saved them money, while positively regarded as an innovative marketing campaign.
The irony of "wings" here has not gone unnoticed. Perhaps the only "wings" that KFC deserves is how they will restore some while they take them away. Thinking on the one to one model, how can KFC help feed people that really need it with protein while feeding people in America. For the record I believe that KFC is actually not "feeding" people but rather providing them with fillers and contributing to heart disease, obesity amongst other myriads of issues. Watch Forks over Knives!
AAA and Scott have made excellent points. Contributing to ill health is bad for society no matter how many social betterment and/or cause marketing programs a company creates. I can't imagine that KFC (or Komen for that matter) will live down the "Pink Buckets for the Cure" fiasco any time soon. In fact, they shouldn't. The public deserves better than that. That said, people are quite forgiving. If these entities make fundamental changes in how they do business and what they create, they could both reconfigure themselves in positive ways. To do so, they'd have to admit their failures, set a new path, act accordingly, and expect regular evaluations. It's a tall order, but what are the alternatives?
It might be better for the business to adopt a cause through its online purchases and
donate the commissions these purchases generate:
http://ourewards.com/edbresources.htm
The second video at this link illustrates how a business can generate cause-based
good will and brand identification via this new technology.
This is on my Facebook page. I posted Joe's post above: When marketing a product, you must know the impact that product or service will make… partnering up with some "wishful thinking idea" is not the way to make a favorable impression. KFC could have pushed the idea: "Eat the Chicken for Diabetes"… Protein is a great way fill up and not drive your insulin levels out the roof! BUT once the consumer is in the door… all those carbs are just tooo irresistible for most of us let alone someone suffering with diabetes and best yet a kid!
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