Chicken Treat overhauls marketing as brand follows tweeting hen with dig at rivals
Fast food chain Chicken Treat has adopted guerrilla marketing tactics to grab the attention of consumers in a further move to revitalise the brand.
Chief executive Mimma Battista said the activity – which pokes fun at Hungry Jacks, McDonalds, KFC and Dominos – forms part of Chicken Treat’s re-launch and its repositioning as the “jester brand”.
The tongue-in-cheek dig at rivals, which asks “why is Jack always hungry?” and derides McDonalds as being “for clowns”, is the latest bid to freshen up its marketing and follows the challenge it has set Betty the chicken as it looks to drive social media engagement.
The idea, created by Perth agency Marketforce, sees the hen, which had been rescued by the RSPCA, provided with a keyboard and computer in her coop in the hope she tweets a “proper five letter word in English” by October 30.
Battista said both initiatives are the result of a marketing overhaul at the chain which has seen it scale back traditional marketing in favour of a more social and out-of-home approach.
Since the brand relaunch and fresh marketing strategy, sales have risen almost eight per cent, Battista said.
“We felt we needed to look at different ways to communicate across different channels,” she told Mumbrella. “All of our competitors are playing the regular guy so we, as the challenger brand, wanted to bring some fun into our marketing and find unique ways to engage with consumers.
“We are the jester brand. Out intention is to be cheeky and light hearted.”
Battista, who said TV will still form part of its marketing mix albeit with reduced investment, identified social channels as an obvious way it needed to connect with consumers. More social-led activations are planned over the next few weeks, Battista said.
The scooter boards, which are also the work of Marketforce, poke fun at rivals and, along with the pop at Hungry Jacks and McDonalds, derides KFC for serving “food in buckets” while asking “isn’t [Dominos] a game for oldies?”
Chicken Treat’s sister brands within QSRH – Red Rooster and Oporto – appear to have been spared the ribbing.
The brand has also released a second video of Betty the chicken, this time showing the clucking bird in “training” for her attempt to peck a five letter word.
Battista said Betty has tweeted a four letter word – look – along with two three-letter words, see and poo.
Steve Jones
Mimma Battista – Great use of transit advertising – cutting thru the clutter with a stand alone message that is thought provoking – I would do a cost comparison of scooters to taxi backs ads and see which gives the best reach and CPM over a 24 hour period x 7 days
Cheers JE
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