On the surface, there aren’t many similarities between Arby’s and KFC. One has the meats. The other, a carousel of celebrity Colonels.
Still, the two quick-service giants have one distinguishing feature in common: A dedicated fan base willing to go the distance to show their brand loyalty.
This hasn’t been proven by some survey or study, but rather two recent campaigns from the brands calling on their customers to make an interminable commitment – Arby’s via a permanent tattoo and KFC through a lifelong identifier.
On September 22, Arby’s teamed up with tattoo artist Miguel “Uzi” Montgomery to give away free Arby’s-themed tattoos during a specified window of time at Port City Tattoo in Long Beach, California. At the end of the day, 104 people participated. That’s 104 people who took the Sandwiches for Life promotion quite literally – with permanent ink.
“We were confident plenty of people would show up to get a tattoo, but I think it’s fair to say we were a little surprised by just how many people came,” said Jim Taylor, Arby’s chief marketing officer. “We had a consistent line from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. when we had to close things off.”
Intriguingly, there was no incentive for these 100-plus people to get a sandwich tattoo. Taylor said this is a testament to the Arby’s faithful.
“Nothing shows more dedication and commitment to something than inking it on your body,” he said. “That’s why Arby’s helped sandwich fans show their commitment by giving them a free sandwich for life in the form of a tattoo.”
KFC’s call for permanency came at the end of August, when the brand announced an $11,000 giveaway toward an education to the first baby named Harland on September 9 (Colonel Harland Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, and the $11,000 was chosen in honor of KFC’s 11 herbs and spices). According to Staci Rawls, KFC’s director of PR and communications, “several entries” were submitted and after a third-party verification process, 8-pound, 1-ounce Harland “Harley” Rose, from Southern Pines, North Carolina, was declared the winner.
Like Arby’s, KFC was confident there would be entries for this unusual campaign. But Rawls said the team never wanted to measure success on having a clear winner.
“Our budget was limited, so our expectations were to celebrate the Colonel’s birthday in a way that was creative and memorable, to create a larger conversation, and to name a baby Harland while giving back in a small way,” she said. “We achieved all of those objectives.”
In addition to achieving those objectives, the campaign generated more earned media impressions than anticipated – nearly 2 billion in just a few weeks, including prominent placements such as Good Morning American and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“It was a great success for us from an earned media standpoint,” Rawls said.
Arby’s also considers its tattoo campaign a success because of its earned media outcomes.
“The amount of media coverage and social conversation is always a good barometer for how successful a program is,” Taylor said. “Having people actually come out and get a free sandwich tattoo certainly proved our message landed.”
In other words – and in stark contrast to most marketing campaigns – neither of these promotions generated revenue for the brands. That simply wasn’t the point. However, that doesn’t make the efforts less valuable.
“We do activations like this to ingratiate ourselves with our guests to create more meaningful relationships that will hopefully result in long-term brand affinity,” Taylor said.
Indeed, earned media can be a more effective and influential PR tool than paid media, according to restaurant consultancy firm Aaron Allen & Associates. Studies suggest 92% of global consumers trust earned media above other forms of advertising, with word-of-mouth driving 20 to 50% of consumer purchase decisions.
That’s not to say every brand should create these types of campaigns, however. Such an approach might seem cumbersome for brands that just don’t seem to generate the same pop culture nuance.
Both Arby’s and KFC have made purposeful strides to inject their brands into our collective vernacular. Arby’s has leveraged “nerd culture” to do so – taking a popular movie or video game (think Harry Potter or Pokémon) and using its food to design crafts around the reference.
Josh Martin, senior director of digital & social media for Arby’s, recently told the 2018 Social Shake-Up crowd in Atlanta that this approach has pushed engagement “off the charts.”
Meanwhile, since launching the “Rotating Colonels” ad campaign in 2015, KFC has been persistent in bringing the brand and its founder into pop culture – through Colonel-themed pillowcases, swimming pool floats, General Hospital cameos, romance novels and more.
“We’ve been a household name for decades, but we had lost some relevance, especially with younger people,” Rawls said. “To reach that group and insert ourselves into their consideration set, we had to look for clever ways to grab their attention. More than three years in, we believe we’ve achieved that and we’ve become known for our irreverence and eccentricity.”
This re-established position is why Rawls believes KFC could get away with a campaign like Baby Harland.
“We never shy away from unique ideas that we know will make an impact and start a conversation,” she said. “It’s part of our DNA now.”
