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Learning from the Launch of Chick-fil-A’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:20 AM PDT

Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken When I see a Holstein cow (the black and white kind), I think of chicken! That’s because of the ingenious branding and marketing efforts of Chick-fil-A. They’ve created a truly remarkable product, but the product is only the beginning of the story. Chick-fil-A has created a remarkable experience!

With the recent launch of their newest product, the spicy chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A rolled out the red carpet for their loyal fans and followers. They don’t just sell chicken sandwiches to customers, they serve them “with pleasure” to what is rapidly becoming a brand-based family.

I sampled the spicy chicken sandwich way back in February. They were selling them in southern California as a test market and I was there for a conference. Upon returning to northwest Arkansas, I asked our local franchise operator about it and he bubbled with excitement as he touted the coming debut of the new menu item. It’s truly delicious, but it was Chick-fil-A’s efforts that caught my attention.

First, the Mass Marketing

Again… cows, selling chicken. It works.

The Relationship Marketing

Instead of calling this a “social media campaign” (because you will generally think in terms of tools like Twitter and Facebook), I’d term it a relationship campaign. Chick-fil-A was able to spread buzz about the upcoming product launch with some creative methods. Dan Cathy, CEO, wrote about it on his blog…

We actually invited people to our restaurants.

We helped them make reservations for their free Spicy Chicken Sandwich. We gave them white glove service in a completely unexpected way. We reminded them that whether we're rolling out new recipes or opening new stores, the lifeblood of Chick-fil-A are the fans. And the fans deserve special treatment.

Reservations took more work than coupons. They cost more time and were more complicated than doing a mass marketing coupon campaign. But for us, the chance to have friends over for a celebration, the opportunity to have people feel waited on and important, was simply too important to pass up.

source: DanCathy.com

So from that short blip, notice the huge lessons in relationship marketing…

First, make a great product. (Otherwise, don’t bother.)
Get your people excited about it.
Work hard to get attention – your product is worth it, right?
Treat “customers” like family. Reward fans.
Serve. Meet needs. Don’t just hope for sales.

Chick-fil-A seems to nail every kind of media and every kind of marketing right on target every time. And it makes sense – they nailed the chicken sandwich pretty well!

Bible