Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Oprah & KFC = Marketing Geniuse

Eureka!



I finally understand! I'm highly impress! Gosh golly, I think my education in the advertising program is paying off.

Have you heard the news? Oprah bought the whole country lunch from KFC you only have 24 hours to download your coupon. Go to www.oprah.com/kfc. When I heard this I jumped for joy. A free lunch! It comes with two pieces of grilled chicken, two sides, and a biscuit.
The best part is that you can print out FOUR coupons per computer. You have to print out the coupon in a day but have until May 19 to use it, except Mother's day.

After receiving my text of good news I made sure to tell all my friends. One of my friends thought it was funny that you couldn't use it on Mother's day. EUREKA! That's when it hit me. This whole scheme was pure economics and a genius one to.

Mother's day is a day that many people go out to dinner to treat their mothers. That means it's a day that people in the food industry will make greater profits. I know I personally would've been like, "Hey Ma! Let me treat you to lunch!", and take my mom to a free dinner at KFC. If I'd do, I bet many other people would've thought of the same thing.

However, the real genius is the economics behind this "give away". KFC is hurting because more people are health conscious and are steering away from the brand in favor of healthy alternatives. KFC competitors such as McDonalds, Wendy's, etc. have already successfully marketed to this demographics by offering a variety of healthy meals. In hopes of competing, KFC has launch a new grilled chicken menu. However, investors are weary of this because the last times KFC tried something new it had failed. Plus, KFC is breaking the rule of do one thing and do it well. Their brand image is fried chicken. How can Kentucky Fried Chicken serve grilled chicken.

The real genius comes in when they team up with Oprah. Supposedly, Oprah is "giving away" a free chicken lunch to the world. No, I doubt Oprah is footing the bill for this. They know that an endorsement from Oprah can make a product successful. This is guerilla marketing at its best. Oprah has been twittering this news all day and it has gone off like rocket fire. Everyone I know has gotten the message at least once which means that this has brought great awareness to the product. However, the reason why the message has moved so fast is because of the 24-hour deadline. People have to move urgently in order to get the free coupon and the message is pressing. Furthermore, without this free trial many people wouldn't have tried the new grill chicken, even with advertising. I know I wouldn't. I go to KFC for fried chicken not grille chicken. Furthermore, you can print out four coupons. Four. Either you can go four times or go with your family.

Like I said. I love this marketing tactic. It wouldn't have worked as well if they were simply giving away free chicken in one day. Now they have are allowing a greater amount of people to try the food without insane crowds and at their leisure.


Oprah & KFC = Marketing Geniuse

1 comment:

Tom Laughon said...

Great blog and great that you are keeping our blog rockin' and rollin'. Now, go out and get a free chicken on me!