Tuesday, September 09, 2008

KFC Secret Recipe Publicity Stunt

KFC is making a big deal about moving Col. Sander's original, hand-written, top-secret "Original Recipe" to a new, more secure location. Clearly a way to get their name (their new name, KFC, not the original name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, since their afraid of the word 'fried' now) into the news cycle this week.

And I'm buying into it by writing about it!

KFC recently applied the recipe to their new chicken strips, so I'm sure that's what the publicity is for.

The recipe is being moved for the first time in 68 years.

The recipe and vials containing the herbs and spices used in the recipe will be locked in a briefcase that is handcuffed to a security expert who will board an armored car that will have a police escort to the new location.

Supposedly, only two company executives at any time have access to the recipe. The company doesn't release their name or title, and it uses multiple suppliers who produce and blend the ingredients but know only a part of the entire contents.
more here.

Update: It's pretty silly, but we'll tell you about it anyway. As part of this publicity, KFC now has a website where you can store your secrets. Yup, that's all it does. You type something in and it disappears. Whew!

UPDATE #2: The stunt is complete, the move as been made. You can watch the official AP news coverage of the event here. Better than the real news I guess, banks failing, prices rising, Obama v. McCain, Biden v. Palin, oh yeah, and a couple wars!

1 comment:

Bear Silber said...

Ken,

Although they did go through a phase of being KFC you of all people should be familiar with their rebranding efforts for Kentucky Fried Chicken:

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-30-2005-69337.asp

http://www.visualstore.com/index.php/channel/27/id/9407