Versace's Facebook page is back to showing only pictures of Anne Hathaway and Lady Gaga after the company's PR department scrubbed comments on a controversial technique for making jeans look worn, Mashable reports.

Versace has shut down posting to its Facebook Page after activists covered its Wall with messages protesting the Italian fashion house’s use of sandblasting, a technique for giving denim a worn look.

Dozens of messages linking to the campaign appeared on the brand’s Wall last month after a petition to stop Versace’s “killer jeans” appeared on protest platform Change.org.

It's the usual hamhanded response from corporate publicity minders when things start to go against them. "Dozens" of protest messages about sandblasting is hardly a deluge. Heck, there are 1,000 "likes" and 58 comments just on Lady Gaga. By deleting the comments Versace just put the the sandblasting protest into a huge megaphone and broadcast it all over the world. The move also suggests that Versace views its Facebook page as just another glossy magazine ad instead of a way to interact with customers and the public.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Marketing
        

From the NYT:

For between $7 and $10 dollars a pop, he registered 100 domains stretching between beverlyhillsmarijuana.com and modestocannabis.com. He intends to keep them by renewing the registration every year for a nominal fee, until they are worth at least $5,000 each, he says. “I’ll sit on them for as long as I have to,” he said. “And when marijuana is an accepted thing like alcohol, which it eventually will be, these things will be worth a lot.”

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Apropos of an earlier post on how rich folks can distinguish themselves in consuming ordinary products, regular reader Pete says:

Actually one of the easiest ways to tell ifsomeone is middle to upper -middle class is to see what kind of Coke they drink.I hate ti stereotype.But all of the upper-middle class proffesionals that i know drink Diet Coke instead of regular [ i prefer regular Coke myself]

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Great discussion at Marginal Revolution on the status/quality ceiling for various products. As is often the case at MR, the comments are just as good as the post. An MR reader notes that the status range for smartphones is not particularly wide. That is to say, even if you're Bill Gates about the best you can do is a really good Blackberry. (Or an iPhone? Who knows?) Well, even newspaper columnists and plumbers have Blackberrys these days, so how is the status-conscious rich person supposed to boost his self esteem?

That leads to a discussion about what other product lines have status plateaus, ie., what else do rich and not-so-rich consume alike, side by side?. Newspapers? Movies? MR commenter JCL suggests this is more common in the U.S. than you think and posts a great quote from Andy Warhol.

"What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Discouraging news for those who believe that someday Americans might adopt carbon standards, downsize their cars and stop living in 5,000-square-foot houses. They won't even buy a biodegradable chip bag if it makes crinkly sounds. From the WSJ:

Frito-Lay, the snack giant owned by PepsiCo Inc., says it is pulling most of the biodegradable packaging it uses for its Sun Chips snacks, following an outcry from consumers who complained the new bags were too noisy.

Touted by Frito-Lay as 100% compostable, the packaging, made from biodegradable plant material, began hitting store shelves in January. Sales of the multigrain snack have since tumbled.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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You're not as thin as you think you are. Esquire's Abram Sauer got out a tape and measured various brands of pants with waistlines of allegedly 34 inches. They weren't even close.

Says Sauer:

However, the temple for waisted male self-esteem is Old Navy, where I easily slid into a size 34 pair of the brand's Dress Pant. Where no other 34s had been hospitable, Old Navy's fit snugly. The final measurement? Five inches larger than the label. You can eat all the slow-churn ice cream and brats you want, and still consider yourself slender in these.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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From the Texas state fair, via the Dallas Morning News:

For three years, Zable has been on a mission to concoct Fried Beer. He remembers staring at a bar menu in a restaurant. Calamari. Nachos. Fried cheese.

Bor-ing.

"Someone needs to figure out a way to fry beer," he thought.

Zable started experimenting. But the beer-and-dough concoction kept exploding once it hit the fryer. He kept getting burned.

So he consulted with a food scientist – still, no luck.

Then, earlier this year, he finally found the recipe for success. Now Zable keeps the process shrouded in secrecy and has applied for a Fried Beer patent and trademark.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This makes you want to puke. A huge banner ad across the top of the NYT's home page today shows an adorable little girl clad in a WASPy, faux-period outfit including a cable-knit sweater and an artful-dodger cap with a pheasant feather jauntily sticking out. Ralph Lauren presents The First Shoppable Children's Storybook RL GANG, says the copy.

The WSJ tells us:

"Harry Connick Jr. narrates a story of eight tots as they embark on their first day of school. Since it's never too early to teach children to shop online, young readers will also be able to click and purchase fall pieces, including the ones worn by characters in the story."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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LeBron James isn't just a one-man bucket machine. He's a one-man sales force. After signing James the Miami Heat quickly sold all the season tickets. Then the team fired 30 members of its sales organization. From the Miami Herald:

``Now that the supply for [season tickets] has been exhausted we no longer require a season ticket sales team,'' the Heat said in a brief statement Friday afternoon.

A team spokeswoman, Lorrie-Ann Diaz, declined to comment or answer questions about the firings, which one staffer said cost roughly 30 people their jobs.

Tyler Cowen calls it "negative complementarities in the labor market." I'd call it another example of Robert Frank's winner-take-call principle in the modern economy.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Under Armour beat Wall Street's estimates for its second quarter profits this morning and upgraded the outlook for the year. The stock is up $1.24 this morning. Previously Under Armour boss Kevin Plank had told Wall Street to expect between $965 million and $985 million in sales for all of 2010. Given the second-quarter results, the company raised its guidance for the year to between $990 million and $1.01 billion. Five years ago UA's sales were about a quarter of that.

A great story. Hey Dick Fuld of Lehman Brothers. Hey Jimmy Cayne of Bear Stearns. This is how you're supposed to get rich in a capitalist society. You create something of value that people want, work hard and sell it.

UA's athletic shoe sales declined by almost $2 million to $35.8 million. I still maintain that the jock cred the company gets from athletic footwear is worth the financial underperformance. Under Armour is doing really well with its Factory House outlets. Administrative overhead went up to open the stores, but they were key factor in the overall sales increase. And gross margins got better.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I am not privy to the reasons that led President David McCreight to resign from Under Armour.

But his exit is certainly not "a natural part of building the platform for a large, scalable business," as spokeswoman Diane Pelkey told my colleague Andrea Walker. You don't hire a No. 2 executive and expect to keep him for only two years. If you're McCreight you certainly don't take a job if you think you'll be on the streets 24 months later. He had another year to go on his contract, and he doesn't seem to have a new job lined up.

"I look forward to working with the entire team to help sustain the growth the brand expects to achieve well into the future," was McCreight's canned quote when he was hired at Under Armour.

Nor do I necessarily buy the explanation from analysts, that UA has brand presidents who made McCreight's job redundant. It would not be unusual for the old story -- hard-charging, up-and-coming exec feels stymied by corporate founder who's not going anywhere -- to have been repeated here.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Tuesday's column was about the challenges and opportunities facing hhgregg, the rapidly expanding consumer-electronics chain that recently opened six stores in metro Baltimore. Scott Tilghman, who follows the company for Hudson Square Research, emailed me after the piece was published with a few extra thoughts.

He thinks I didn't give enough emphasis to hhgregg's trained, commissioned sales force, the growing complexity of consumer electronics and hhgregg's strength in appliances such as washers and dryers. In particular, he says, a smart sales force will better help customers navigate the increasingly complicated world of TV, with its Internet and 3D options. It's probably true that Circuit City's demise was accelerated by its decision to fire its most experienced, highly paid sales folks a few years ago. hhgregg's experts will help the chain stand out over the discounters that just sell you a screen without making sure it's what you need or telling you how to hook it up to your home network, says Tilghman. He says:

We have moved from an era where products are bought to an era where they are sold. In the former, many products were self contained and relatively easy for consumers to work. In the latter, there is far more complexity resulting from product line extensions, individual product capabilities, and of course the ability to connect devices across product categories (phones to computers to TVs, etc). The expertise of a trained and tenured salesforce is far more useful to a customer than the grab and go model of a discount store, in our view.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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So maybe it really is the same, dumb old General Motors, after all. In an internal memo, some marketing genius has asked employees to refer to only to "Chevrolet," never "Chevy," the affectionate nickname given to the brand for decades in auto showrooms, popular songs, speedway pits and poems. This memo can now be used to illustrate the concept, "anal-pedantic," which I have just made up.

GM says it's trying to ape Coke and Apple in brand-terminology consistency. Note, however, that Coke's real name is Coca-Cola. THAT company intelligently embraced the product's informal nickname, registering Coke as a trademark in 1944 and proudly using it on the bottles. The difference between great brands and mediocre brands has nothing to do with name consistency. It has to do with the imagination of the people running the business.

"We'd ask that whether you're talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward," GM said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

"When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding," the memo said.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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This is a pretty interesting marketing story from Baltimore's Laureate Education. Laureate, which runs for-profit universities around the world, signed Clinton as its "honorary chancellor" to advise Laureate universities and "encourage civic engagement and youth leadership on important social issues during his appearances at university campuses and in print and online messages to the nearly 600,000 students in the Laureate network."

This is probably costing Laureate a pretty penny, but it could pay huge dividends for the company. Clinton is a rock star overseas. Having him show up in Laureate literature and on Laureate's campuses in Europe, Asia and South America should hugely raise the company's profile. Very bold and smart idea and a coup for Laureate boss Doug Becker.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, masters of guerrilla PR, must be thrilled with their latest stunt. When the group heard that budget problems forced Colorado Springs to remove trash cans from public parks, it "offered" to pay for anti-meat ads on the cans. The ads, showing models wearing bikinis made of lettuce, supposedly would have paid for the cans to be put back in the parks.

Brilliant, of course. Not the idea of sponsored trash cans. The idea of proposing sponsored trash cans bearing a controversial message with a risque image in a conservative town that PETA knew never would have accepted them. You can't pay for this kind of coverage, and PETA got it for free. Today's Sun ran an earnest story from the Los Angeles Times, picking up from an AP story a couple days ago.

Here's an excerpt from the editorial from the Colorado Springs paper:

Mr. Mayor, please call People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Call them and close a deal that could change the way we fund services in Colorado Springs.

“We are just waiting for the mayor to call, and we are excited to put something together that will be a win-win for everyone involved,” said Kristina Addington, campaign coordinator for PETA, in an interview with The Gazette’s opinion department.

Boy, she must have giggled after that interview. PETA never even said how much money they were offering.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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Many Oscar-winning movies are based on novels. But as the publisher of the source novel for 'Precious,' Random House may benefit more than usual from that film's awards. During the ceremonies I kept wondering who got paid off on the show to mention Sapphire's novel, "Push," every time they talked about "Precious." The formal title of the film, however, is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." So every time they referenced the movie, the Oscars ran a big, free ad saying: Hey, buy the book.

"Xxxxx," based on the novel "Yyyyy" by "Zzzzz" trips off the tongue about as sweetly as "The 97th Rose Bowl Game Presented By Citi" and similar constructions. Hope it's not a trend.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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This is not how to win millions in investment for Google broadband fiber. Topeka, Kansas has "renamed" itself as Google, Kansas. Informally. Temporarily. For one month. By proclamation of the mayor. This is the kind of cute/dumb gimmick that college grads often believe can get them a job. Send a pajama-gram resume! Sing a seranade under the boss's window, etc.

But the Google projects will go to the communities that can make effective use of them, and Baltimore is one.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Two profs at Dartmouth compared snowfall as reported by ski resorts with that in government weather records. The resorts had seemingly found an astonishing new meteorological phenomenon: Regular, unusually large deposits of fresh powder on weekends, just when most skiers are inclined to head to the slopes and just when resort prices are higher! Of course, the weekend-powder pattern didn't show up in the weather-service reports.

Here's what's coolest: The iPhone's ski-report app, which lets skiers share real-time conditions, is forcing the resorts to be more honest. Exaggeration fell at the resorts with iPhone reception. The wisdom of crowds, indeed. HT Marginal Revolution.

The paper, by Jonathan Zinman and Eric Zitzewitz, can be read here. Here is the abstract:

Casual empiricism suggests that deceptive advertising is prevalent, and several classes of theories explore its causes and consequences. We provide some unusually sharp empirical evidence on the extent, mechanics, and dynamics of deceptive advertising. Ski resorts self-report 23 percent more snowfall on weekends; there is no such weekend effect in government precipitation data. Resorts that plausibly reap greater benefits from exaggerating do it more. We find little evidence that competition restrains or encourages exaggeration. Near the end of our sample period, we observe a shock to the information environment: a new iPhone application feature makes it easier for skiers to comment on resort ski conditions in real time. Exaggeration falls sharply, especially at resorts where iPhones can get reception.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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There are many stories suggesting that Toyota sales will suffer long-term damage because of the accelerator problem. But I'm with Justin Newman, a 2008 Toyota Avalon owner whom The Sun interviewed yesterday. "I don't see a single safety issue as a necessary indicator of a corporate trend," Newman said.

A car has maybe 2,000 parts. The hazards of chance and time mean that every now and then an important one will break down, even for a company with an excellent record for quality and safety.Given Toyota's long, impressive record of delivering great cars, it seems like this will be treated as a glitch. A sticky accelerator isn't a systemic issue like metal parts that exceed tolerances. Brand loyalty to Toyota can be measured -- the premium buyers are willing to pay over similar cars made by Ford and GM. Toyota took a while to address this problem, but it should come out of this with most of its reputation intact.

"Integrity doesn't imply a perception of error-free performance," William J. McEwen writes in Married to the Brand. "Instead, it strongly suggests that: -- errors and problems will be rare rather than frequent, and -- identified problems will be acknowledged."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The black and tan camouflage uniforms, designed by Under Armour, will have a Wounded Warrior logo patch. The jerseys worn by the Gamecocks and Terrapins will have words such as courage, loyalty and integrity on their backs.

More great publicity for Baltimore's Under Armour, which gets its cachet from selling "authentic" gear to real jocks. Quasi-military camo uniforms may seem even cooler and more authentic. And the Wounded Warrior Project is a great cause.

UPDATE: Thank you commenters for the correction. If Maryland and SC were really playing each other wearing the same jerseys, of course the refs would have an even more difficult time than usual.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Businesses pander to politicians all the time, but usually behind the scenes. They donate campaign funds. They -- nudge nudge wink wink -- promise pols and staff jobs when they leave government. And so forth. Rarely do they back one side or another with public pronouncements. I remember how surprised I was to see an "O'Malley" sign on the lawn of the First Mariner Bank branch near where I live in the last gubernatorial election.

Even more rarely do they use partisanship as a marketing strategy. Whey hack off half your potential customers if you can avoid it? Some company called CREDO Mobile seems to trying it out. In my Inbox this morning, sent out by the Democratic machine:

Dear Jay,
Real healthcare reform is within reach this fall, but we're fighting tooth-and-nail against insurance lobbyists, Republicans, BlueDogs, FOX News, and Obamahaters marching in Washington. To win, we need the support of every ally we can find.
CREDO Mobile has been a great ally in this fight. Won't you consider making them your phone company?
Bob Fertik

And:

Is Your Phone Company Fighting for Real Healthcare Reform?

Unless you're with CREDO Mobile, the answer is probably "no." We're a different kind of company - one that's driven not by the bottom line, but by a belief. A belief that we can make the world a better place, including achieving the goal of health care for all Americans.

Memo to cell phone customers and everybody else: If you want health care reform, don't worry about CREDO. Call your congressman and senator.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Despite a small market and terrible national economy, Ravenomics look pretty healthy as the NFL season opens, reports Kevin Van Valkenburg in today's Sun. The team has sold out home games again for the 2009/2010 season. It's 7th from the bottom in market size but near the top in revenue. It has renewed leases on nearly all the luxury suites. It renewed 99 percent of its season tickets.

Part of the story surely is Baltimore's 60 years of pro football tradition, the dedication of the fans and the team's winning record. But the greatest fans in the universe can't compensate for the 16 percent unemployment rate in metro Detroit, where, as Van Valkenburg reports, Lions management anticipates empty seats and a TV blackout. Even a team touted to be division champions can't make up for the 10 percent unemployment of metro San Diego, where the Chargers face the same problem. And in Jacksonville, a tiny market, mediocre team and Florida's housing crash mean 17,000 season ticket holders didn't renew this year, KVV reports. A year ago unemployment was 6.4 percent in Jacksonville. Now it's 10.5 percent. The place has lost 6 percent of its jobs in the last two years.

By contrast the metro Baltimore economy, for all its challenges, is doing OK. Unemployment is 8 percent. The region has lost jobs at only half the rate of Jacksonville and a quarter the rate of Detroit. Combine that with the fact that Baltimore incomes on average are higher than those of many NFL towns, and you have the right environment for a full house and long concession lines. Unlike the Redskins, the Ravens don't sue season-ticket holders who find they can't pay for the seats, as the Washington Post's James Grimaldi recently reported. But it doesn't sound like they would even need to.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Some great comments over at Consuming Interests on the comments on health reform by Whole Foods boss John Mackey and the resulting boycott effort by people who objected. In a piece in the WSJ, Mackey wrote: "A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This 'right' has never existed in America."

Many of Whole Foods' liberal customers are mad. But the other question is, what does the Whole Foods board think? Mackey probably just cost the company millions in sales and gave it big black eye among its core customers.

Unlike most boycotts, this one doesn't have to reach a mass market to be successful. Whole Foods sells to a niche demographic, and that demographic is precisely the one most likely to respond to the boycott. Whole Foods customers are politically aware, well-off and heavily wired, which means they're also easy for boycott organizers to reach.

This is after years of sock puppeting by Mackey on Yahoo message boards, pumping his own company and trashing rivals while pretending to be somebody else. A Consuming Interests commenter asks a good question:

How many times can this guy screw up? One day he's on yahoo boards pumping his stock and gloating over himself, then onto 'conservative capitalism'... no he's offended 14,000 customers. He's a lose cannon and why I would never invest. I like to store, but their mission is just too mixed.

UPDATE: Here's the headline from RetailWire: "Time for John Mackey to Resign."

UPDATE 2: Interesting discussion going on in comments. Yes, this is America, and the First Amendment hasn't been repealed. But how far should a CEO go in expressing honest but controversial comments when they might hurt the business? Most CEOs shut their traps -- to a fault. Mackey's outspokenness is refreshing. But by speaking out, has he violated his duty to shareholders?

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Marketing
        

Not yet, says Grant McCracken:

Splendid. At the very moment, marketing is finding new ways to talk about women (Dove, etc.), it's image of men is now predictable. It's not in fact offensive. Much of the "men as dogs, dolts, dopes" advertising can be funny. Men like this image of themselves. No, the problem is that it's verging on the tedious. The joke is wearing thin. Verily, it has jumped the shark.

Guys will go along with this sort of thing for a little while longer. We don't mind being portrayed as dogs, dolts and dopes. What we don't like it being seen as cliches. Call us stupid and obvious, but don't you dare suggest we have drifted off the cultural moment. (And what goes for men goes doubly for the ad agency that makes the ads men watch.)

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Evian bottle water, owned by Danone of France, had a huge hit in 1998 with its synchronized swimming babies. Now it has brought the tykes back to the screen, clothed them in onesies (the swimmers were starkers) and scored another blockbuster, this time on youtube.

The agency, BETC Euro, is the same. The technology is the same. Why did Evian wait a decade to relaunch the babies? Maybe partly it's the American Idol strategy: If you don't run the content constantly, maybe people won't get sick of it. The English version is all over the Web. Here's the French version.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Since this blog has become the global authority on botched national junk-food giveaways, it has assigned staff to see if Doughnut Day (in which Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts have pledged to give a free sweet round greasy puntured piece of fried starch to every customer) is going OK.

So far no reports of free-fatty-food rights being violated, except maybe in Fresno. Yum Brands and KFC could learn a thing.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The Government Accountability Office spends 43 pages "analyzing" why the United States gets lousy global PR despite having spent billions on its image. Hint to the GAO: It's not the advertising. It's the policy.

Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government has spent at least $10 billion on communication efforts designed to advance the strategic interests of the United States. However, foreign public opinion polling data shows that negative views towards the United States persist despite the collective efforts to counteract them by the State Department (State), Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Defense (DOD), and other U.S. government agencies. Based on the significant role U.S. strategic communication and public diplomacy efforts can play in promoting U.S. national security objectives, such as countering ideological support for violent extremism, we highlighted these efforts as an urgent issue for the new administration and Congress. To assist Congress with its oversight agenda, we have enclosed a series of issue papers that discuss long-standing and emerging public diplomacy challenges identified by GAO and others.

UPDATE: Alex says, in comments: "giving Yugo the ad dollars of Chevrolet will not change things"

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Toyota Financial is offering a $1,000 rebate to recent grads of four-year and two-year colleges. Sounds great. No money down. Free roadside assistance for a year. Security-deposit waiver if you're leasing. Even if you graduated two years ago you still get the rebate. Good on all the non-hybrid models. Go for it! Except -- you knew this would happen -- read the fine print.

Show proof of present employment, or future employment with a start date within 120 days of your purchase contract date. TFS must deem your salary sufficient to cover living expenses and vehicle payments.

In this economy, that's a deal-killer. I know several people graduating from college. I know only one who will have a job.

UPDATE: To which wise commenter Pete adds the corollary:

But also a credit-saver. No sense in getting into a financial commitment you have no ability to live up to, and no sense taking on credit risks and bad debts. Calling it a deal-killer puts it in a negative light, as though we've learned nothing from the housing and financials meltdowns.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Marketing
        

It sounds like now KFC might have to give out rain checks for its rain checks to get a free grilled chicken meal. As you recall KFC and Oprah publicized a massive giveaway of the new sandwich. Millions tried to print out the Web coupon, running into immediate problems. The coupon software wouldn't work. The substitute PDF coupon wasn't honored by the KFC. The KFC ran out of grilled chicken sandwiches etc. Within hours the company said it would no longer take the Web coupons but would exchange them for rain checks that could be mailed in for NEW coupons that would be honored. Now a commenter says:

I went to a KFC and they said they are giving rainchecks but they don't have any rainchecks left! How lame is that?! That's it - that was my final visit to KFC!

Posted by Jay Hancock at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Piling on after the debacle over KFC's free chicken offer promoted on Oprah, El Pollo Loco (for Md. readers, a western chicken chain) disses KFC for not honoring the Oprah coupons on Mother's Day. From Nation's Restaurant News:

COSTA MESA, Calif. (May 7, 2009) Continuing to peck away at a rival brand’s grilled chicken promotion, El Pollo Loco on Thursday posted a viral video suggesting that KFC doesn’t honor mothers because a coupon for a free meal is not valid on Mother’s Day this Sunday.

Saying that El Pollo Loco “loves mothers and families,” the 418-unit chain on Mother’s Day will honor the KFC coupon offer of a free two-piece grilled chicken meal with sides, which was promoted Tuesday by television talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The coupon was available for download on KFC’s website until midnight Wednesday and the giveaway reportedly prompted a run on chicken. KFC stores across the country reportedly had long lines and some ran short on supplies.

The KFC coupon is good through May 19 — excluding Mother’s Day, when El Pollo Loco hopes to pick up some of the 5,200-unit chain’s freebie-seeking customers.

Actually, the KFC coupon isn't good on Mother's Day or any other day. The chain got so swamped with requests that yesterday it stopped direct use of all the coupons. Now you have to go to the store, present your coupon, fill out a "rain check" form and wait for them to send you ANOTHER coupon in the mail.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Marketing
        

UPDATE, THURSDAY NIGHT. So much for that little promotion. What a disaster. FROM KFC's WEB SITE:

We are so sorry, but due to the overwhelming response to our FREE Kentucky Grilled Chicken™ meal coupon, we can no longer redeem the free coupon at this time. But we will honor our commitment to giving you a free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal.

Please visit a participating KFC restaurant for a rain check form. Complete the form, attach your original coupon , and give it to the KFC restaurant manager or postmark per the form’s instructions, by May 19, 2009, and we’ll send you a rain check for your free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal at a later date, plus a free Pepsi with our compliments. Your participating KFC restaurant will provide you with the form you need.

Please note that the redemption periods of the rain checks will vary. All other terms and conditions of the original free Kentucky Grilled Chicken coupon will apply.

UPDATE, THURSDAY 4:45 PM. This just in from AP:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — KFC has learned not to underestimate the power of Oprah Winfrey.

A free grilled-chicken meal promotion touted by the talk show host has caused such a frenzy that some stores ran out and the Louisville-based chicken chain is asking customers to take a rain check for the new product.

KFC President Roger Eaton said Thursday the company will mail coupons to customers in stages so people can enjoy their meal in a more relaxed setting. It will throw in a free soft drink to sweeten the new deal.

UPDATE, THURSDAY AFTERNOON: Just put another call into KFC public relations, with questions about whether the "1234" pdf coupons are good, whether the coupons need to be printed in color, and how they're going to respond to people who had problems. Several commenters have said that the 1234 coupons have been rejected at some stores or that other stores rejected coupons that weren't printed in color. The PR folks are still hunkered down and figuring out what to do. They do seem to realize they have a publicity storm on their hands. "They've been in meetings since 8 this morning," said the woman who answered the phone.

Will report back if KFC responds with answers.

Louisville, we have a problem. A commenter says:

Unfortunately for those who worked on or near 42nd St., in NYC are not able to use the coupons. A KFC employee was literally screaming in front of the KFC stating, "NO MORE COUPONS" and turned people away. Thanks for nothing!!!!

And another:

I went to use my coupon today and there was a notice on the door stating that if your last 4 numbers in the bar code are 1234, the coupon is no good! Came home to try to print again and the site would not let me print another coupon.

Jay here. ALL the pdf versions of the coupons (see post below) have the 1234 UPC number. I have a call into KFC public relations about this and about whether they're going to be swamped by all the demand. Will report back when I hear.

UPDATE: More reports of KFC customers unable to redeem grilled chicken coupons. Metro New York customers do not seem to be having good KFC experiences today:

If the coupon doesn't print, consider it a blessing! the portchestoer NY store sort of honored a few before noon (2 wings, mash & no biscuit) and then told the remaining coupon holders (that were shunned into a separate line) that the chicken was gone. I eat atr this KFC regularly and was treated like a vagrant because I had a coupon; that they issued!

And:

well we went to kfc in brooklyn center off brooklyn blvd and they also said that if any of us had the same numbers they weren't going to take them.everyones coupons end with 1234'so we went to another one got served went back and talked with the 1st place.they were only serving one per car.

And:

I just came back from the North Lake KFC in Pasadena California, where the sign on the door read "We are not accepting internet coupons".

UPUPDATE: Scott in San Antonio says he & friends successfully redeemed PDF-based coupons. Since he says all coupons' barcodes were the same, I assume they all ended in 1234, which seems to be all you get from the PDF version.

I was able to print it no problem with FireFox. I also saved the PDF. Others who went to get it got the same coupon code. We all went to lunch together and joined the long line of other people waiting for their free chicken. We were politely served and while it took about 10 minutes for our food to be ready, we did get it and in no way felt slighted.

I guess I know what I will be eating for the next two weeks! :)

(BTW, this was in San Antonio)

AND MORE: A reported sit-in over grilled-chicken denials at a New York KFC.

Check out frustrations other customers are having on the Consuming Interests blog.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (468)
Categories: Marketing
        

The coupon for KFC chicken prompts you to download some software before you print it out, which would be a minor obstacle to free chicken if the software worked. However people are reporting problems.

UPDATE: Here is a link to a PDF coupon that you can print without downloading the software required for the other method. It appears to be legitimate. For the KFC free grilled chicken meal coupon, click here.

Commenter Dawn sez:

I tried to print out the Oprah free KFC giveaway coupon and it want allow it to be print from my printer. I installed all of the software that the coupon assisted on me to do. Ran software, still will not print coupon.

Commenter Bob sez:

No amount of trying resulted in coupon being printed. Computer got hung up as well. Geez Louize ---what kind of promotion is this?

Commenter Jesi says:

I tried printing from several computers....It WONT print! So this is how they get away with such a promotion...No one can actually download the coupon. This is annoying

Commenter Henry:

O.K. What is going on? I tried to print out the coupon and it would not let me. A security system thing keep popping up and it won't let me get in nor, will it let me print the conpon. Could someone explain? Thank you.

Has anybody successfully downloaded coupons?

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
Categories: Marketing
        

History is replete with examples of companies that offered giveaway or discount promotions only to have them become a bit too successful. The idea is to get publicity and drive traffic without hurting your bottom line too badly. But KFC's loss leader might just turn into a big loss.

The Oprah connection is generating huge publicity. "Kentucky fried chicken coupons" is No. 11 on Google trends this morning. It's also interesting that, amid KFC's campaign to "Unthink What You Thought About KFC," the company is promoting the meal that the Colonel has been serving for 50 years. You can dowload a coupon for a free two-piece chicken meal, sides and a biscuit until midnight eastern time today.

No matter the ultimate cost or volume, the true test will be whether the promotion sustainably pulls KFC out of the lagging ranks of fast food chains.

UPDATE: As pointed out by commenter Doc, it's KFC's new grilled chicken, not the traditional fried stuff. This would have been obvious to me had I closely read the coupon terms I posted below!

UPUPDATE: KFC is getting flooded with attempted coupon redemptions today as well as questions about how to print them. Some other posts:

Would-be KFC diners have trouble printing coupons
KFC customers report they can't redeem coupons
Coupons good till May 19th (The Sun's Consuming Interests blog)

* Terms: Free offer good for two pieces of Kentucky Grilled Chicken™ (manager's choice) and two individual sides and a biscuit at participating KFC restaurants located in the Unites States, while supplies last. Limit one offer per coupon, one coupon per person during offer period. Must be redeemed in person. Not good with any other offers. No photocopied, mechanically reproduced or altered coupon accepted. Coupon cannot be sold or traded. Valid only if downloaded from UnthinKFC.com. Applicable tax extra. Void where prohibited. By downloading coupon, you agree that KFC is not responsible for any technical problems or malfunctions of computer systems, servers or printers or lost or unavailable network connections. You are limited to 4 downloads of coupon. Coupon fraud is punishable by law.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (90)
Categories: Marketing