Help KFC Earn Its Cause Marketing Wings - By Joe Waters
Joe Waters blogs on cause marketing at Selfishgiving.com. He is the co-author of Cause Marketing for Dummies (July, 2011).
Help KFC Earn Its Cause Marketing Wings
Megan Strand of InCouraged.com joined me in writing this post today!
Last Friday, Joe appropriately ranted that Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest “cause marketing” promotion (we cringe to even call it that) pushing mega-jugs of soda to “support” Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation was, well, chicken.
In this post, we team up and invite all cause marketers to pitch in for a public brainstorm for KFC about what types of cause marketing partnerships might make more sense for the quick serve chain. Other quick serve restaurants will no doubt benefit from the discussion!
Here are a few of our ideas – add yours in the comments below.
Go Local to Support Small Business. KFC began with the dream of a single businessman in the midst of the depression. Franchise owners could team up with local “Main Street” organizations to support or fund community events or local beautification programs. KFC would be taking a page out of its own playbook by going local. In 2009, it launched Re-Freshed by KFC, a local public works program in Louisville, Kentucky that filled unsightly potholes with fresh asphalt topped with the KFC logo.
Crowdsource an Online Competition. Again, going back to the entrepreneurial spirit of The Colonel, the brand could hold an online crowdsourced competition to award a grant to a promising entrepreneur. Local franchises could promote and fund the contest through in-store point-of-sale programming and collateral.
