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KFC Skips Ads, Fixes Potholes Instead
There’s so much talk about how important it is to spend your marketing budget wisely these days. But if traditional advertising isn’t working like it used to, then what? KFC came up with a pretty good use for their advertising dollars recently. They’re sending the Colonel to five major metropolitan cities to repair potholes.
It’s not as weird as it sounds. They’ve recently launched a campaign aiming to focus on the high-quality and unsurpassed freshness of their chicken. As a tie-in, they’ve decided to “re-freshen” streets in five cities by filling potholes, and marketing them “Re-Freshened by KFC.” It’s a win-win-win. The public gets better streets, the city saves a ton of maintenance costs, and KFC gets the credit for responsible marketing, and news outlets, Twitter streams and blogs just like this one are telling EVERYONE all about it. Wouldn’t it be great if more marketing was for the good of all mankind?
I am curious as to why they didn’t choose to integrate this effort with an interactive and social media presence. I think a microsite with a description of KFC’s campaign and their efforts along with video, images, and more could have given the campaign even more horsepower. And a strong presence on Twitter could have been really powerful in spreading the world-of-mouth marketing. Even still, this is a pretty innovative use of a marketing budget.
Btw, KFC - We have a few potholes here in Washington, DC that are RIPE for filling. Come onnnnn down!
by
Comments
Posted on May 9th, 2009 at 4:19 PM
The city should be fixing the holes not KFC
by BOB
Posted on April 11th, 2009 at 10:24 AM
I actually love this idea. Like another person said, people WILL remember KFC for doing this. Still, I will NEVER eat at KFC. But way to go.
by Ep
Posted on April 8th, 2009 at 4:08 AM
If they do this in india it will probably look like one big zebra crossing
by Ambrish Shah
Posted on April 6th, 2009 at 9:15 PM
wow, this is genius! When do they come to Chicago? It's like driving in a minefield around here!
by j.hornsby
Posted on April 5th, 2009 at 7:37 AM
Wow, imagine if a city needs a better playground for their football team. You could cover the whole field with advertisements, haha. And sales at the stadium could skyrocket.
by Oliver
Posted on March 31st, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Sure this doesn't have much to do with chicken. At least in my opinion, during an economic recession, people will remember KFC for fixing a community and not wasting money on tv or radio.
by Gillian
Posted on March 31st, 2009 at 8:19 PM
to #4 - for free? i don't think filling in potholes comes cheap, so technically, no, it's not for free. also, if a street needs repairing and it can cut back on costs from a city's already over-burdened transit budget, i'm all for it! what a great idea.
by oh jaz
Posted on March 31st, 2009 at 5:59 PM
I think the lack of an official microsite actually adds to the impact, very guerrilla marketing.
by Alex
Posted on March 31st, 2009 at 2:21 PM
This is very bad idea. First it distracts drivers. Second it makes graffiti legal and acceptable. Next, every guerilla marketing company will be painting company logos and advertisements all over the streets(for free).
by OMG
Posted on March 30th, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Can you direct them toward Detroit? Our Potholes are more like craters on the moon! Love the idea, but I do agree that SM should have been used more directly. A Micro-site with a Google Maps tie in would have been great!
by Joe M
Posted on March 30th, 2009 at 12:43 PM
wow, what a way to make a huge difference! Talk about making a effort.
by Arnold
Posted on March 30th, 2009 at 12:42 PM
I guess that The Colonial can afford new shoes after getting spray paint all over one of them....
by Anonymous