What can you learn from KFC’s latest marketing move?
When it comes to advertising and marketing, it always pays to have a look at what the big-name brands are doing, even those that aren’t in your particular industry or which service your chosen demographic. Ideas are ripe to be borrowed, after all, as long as you do it in such a way as to not infringe on any kind of copyright, that is.
One very familiar brand that you may want to look to in the future is KFC, which has just taken the decision to temporarily retire its world-famous Finger-lickin’ Good slogan in response to the global pandemic, amid health and safety concerns that it’s perhaps not the right time to be encouraging people to lick their fingers.
Speaking to Marketing Week, Kate Wall – KFC UK and Ireland’s head of retail and advertising – said: ““This year has thrown everyone – all brands – and we took a bit of a global stance that actually right now our slogan is probably the most inappropriate slogan out there, so we need to stop saying it.”
So what lessons can other brands take away from this, even those not in the hospitality industry? The main one here seems to be flexibility.
Even if you’re completely wedded to an idea and it seems absolutely perfect for a particular moment in time, there may well come a point in the future where it doesn’t work for whatever reason – and could even end up damaging your brand, if you’re not careful.
