Chick-fil-A Gets It Right

Chick-fil-A, for those of you who don't know, is a quick-service resaurant chain specializing in, uhm, chicken. Based in Atlanta, they run 1,300 stores in 37 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. It is wildly successful business, racking up 40 consecutive years of sales growth and profiting store operators--who are very carefully chosen, not accepted--handsomely.

I just read a piece on Colloquy.com about Chick-fil-A's third annual "Cow Appreciation Day" (registration required). This is a brilliant piece of branded customer experience marketing. Chick-fil-A has been using a tounge-in-cheek ad campaign theme for several years now featuring cows who encourage us all to "eat mor chikin". On Cow Appreciation Day (11 July 2008), any customer who shows up at a Chick-fil-A store fully dressed as a cow gets a free combo meal. Last year, 4,000--yes, that's four thousand--customers did just that.

How much would you supposed 4,000 combo meals costs Chick-fil-A? I don't know but let's just say their costs average $5 per meal (that may be high). That's a paltry $20,000. The promotional costs are probably much more significant, but still my guess is they take a low-key, cost-effective approach that relies heavily on word-of-mouth.

The reason I like this campaign so much is that it ties customers so directly into Chick-fil-A's brand positioning, and it is experience-based.  And think about the impact on customers who show up at stores that day who had no idea what was going on, only to see a bunch of crazy people in cow costumes eating their free combo meals. It's a beautiful thing.

Comments

[Brian Lunde]

Haim--your math may be correct but two points: (a) the average store doesn't exist, so I suspect the exposure will actually be pretty high in some locations, and (b) the value of this to Chick-fil-A vastly exceeds the actual exposure of customers to people dressed like cows in the stores. It generates a lot of buzz that is totally aligned behind the Chick-fil-A brand position.

[Haim]

umm, 4000 people over 1300 restaurants is just over three people per restaurant on average. It is highly unlikely that many customers will see a 'bunch' of people dressed as cows.

[Carl]

Hi – Looking forward to seeing you all at Chick-fil-A on Friday in full cow gear! Be sure to check out http://www.cowappreciationday.com for other easy tips on how to dress to get your free Chick-fil-A!