Just read a Yahoo News article about KFC changing their "Finger licking good" line to "So good". Huh? "So Good"??? What lunacy inspired this latest departure from commonsense.
In "Finger licking good" KFC truly have a brilliant property that has stood the test of time - not an easy feat in this throw-away, disposable era. "Finger licking good" is memorable, alludes to great flavour, arouses curiosity in people who are unfamiliar with the taste and taps into a common action we can all identify with. Best of all, it's associated with one brand, and one brand only.
"So Good", on the other hand, is about as bland as bland can be. Imagine this scenario: a bunch of peckish people are discussing which fast food to get. Someone suggests KFC. "Why?" "Because it's so good". Yeah, right. Can you think of even one restaurant in any category that would not claim its food is "so good"?
The article quotes KFC's head of UK and Ireland operations, Martin Shuker, who says "It's about becoming better at everything we do, including our great-tasting food, the work we do with our people, and the way we operate in the local community," Huh?
Have you ever heard such rubbish? If someone wants a quick bite of finger-licking good food do they really care about the outlet "becoming better at everything we do", or "the work we do with our people", or "the way we operate in the local community"? If you want us to know about all these things, KFC's PR company should be doing its job a lot better.
What I'd like to know is how many advertising agency man-hours (person hours?) went into the "creation" of this piece of rubbish. And how many dollars has it cost. I could have come up with (and rejected) this line in less than 7 seconds flat...and you can bet it would have cost KFC a whole lot less. However, I laud the skill it must have taken to sell this nonsense to KFC, who's marketing idiots, in buying it, show themselves just as stupid as the the fools who proposed it in the first place.
And does KFC really, honestly, truly believe the the non-slogan "So good" is likely to change anyone's perception of the brand one iota? Purleese.
The article goes on: "The company plans to put calorie information on its menu boards from September and launch its first ever non-fried griddled product called Brazer, as a lighter option." Fine. But is that any reason to drop a brilliant slogan?
And then this: "As consumers become increasingly concerned about health and environmental issues, many high-street food outlets have amended their menus and practices." Still no reason to change slogans and, possibly, even a reason to make more use of the "Finger licking good" property..."It's lighter, but it's every bit as finger licking good as always" (Time taken to think of this line...2.7 seconds, but I'm having slow day.)
Also, people don't appear to be so "concerned about health and environmental issues" that they are turning away from the brand in droves because, as the article concludes, "KFC has experienced 19 consecutive quarters of growth."
Read the full article here.
