Is the new face of chicken a secret recipe for success?

KFC says giant logo is finger-lickin' good, but brand critics are scratching their heads

SINCLAIR STEWART

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

The goateed visage of Colonel Harland Sanders has long been one of North America's best-known corporate icons. Yesterday, however, he became the most visible logo on Earth.

In a publicity stunt to kick off a global marketing campaign, KFC Corp. has painstakingly constructed a one-hectare likeness of the Colonel in Rachel, Nev., making him the first brand that can be seen from outer space.

The 65,000-piece mosaic, situated, appropriately, in a patch of desert known as the UFO capital of the world, introduces an updated look for the fried-chicken chain's deceased founder and former pitchman: the southern gentleman's white suit has been scrapped in favour of a chef's red-and-white striped apron.

"If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice," said Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC. "For now, we'll be very content satisfying the entire human population with our finger lickin' good chicken. Besides, who knows if extraterrestrials even have fingers?"

The galactic branding effort, complete with an online satellite camera offering pictures of the Colonel, helms a global makeover that KFC is unrolling over the next year. There will be revamped signage on its 14,000 outlets, new menu items and redesigned interiors -- all part of a plan to improve sales in North America and build on its momentum in China, where it is the largest fast-food outlet with 1,700 locations.

U.S. same-store sales have been weak, by contrast, declining 2 per cent in the third quarter of 2006. Canadian sales are up a modest 3.4 per cent over last year.

But will a massive desert mural persuade people to buy a bucket? Will a red apron, for that matter?

"This is just rearranging the deck chairs -- there's no strategy here," said Jack Trout, a marketing strategist at Trout & Partners Ltd. in Greenwich, Conn. "What is this about? Are we impressing the Martians?"

Mr. Trout suggested that KFC should be focusing on one thing -- telling people why they should buy the Colonel's chicken -- rather than turning him into a caricature and dropping the trademark suit coat.

"It's like dressing up the Jolly Green Giant in something different," he said. "I don't see what that gains you."

Corporations take great pains to guard their icons, and are typically very careful about tinkering with them. KFC, which has altered Colonel Sanders only five times in the past 50 years, is a case in point.

Several years ago, in an effort to make the brand a little cooler, it created an animated version of him with a hip-hop flavour, complete with swivelling hips and urgings of "Go Colonel, Go Colonel."

It was not regarded by critics as a high point in the restaurant chain's advertising history.

"I think that was the dark side of this whole thing," said David Altschul, president of Character LLC, a Portland, Ore., brand-design firm.

"It was pretending to be young and cool. There's nothing less cool than trying and failing to be cool."

KFC does say it hopes to make its icons "updated, modern, and cool" with the redesign announced yesterday, although the apron suggests a more tempered approach this time.

"What we're trying to communicate to the consumer is the taste of KFC," said Nancy Cogger, chief marketing officer of Priszm Canadian Income Fund, which operates 786 KFC outlets in Canada.

Ms. Cogger said the apron is meant to remind customers that the Colonel, who died in 1980, was a "great chef," and that the chicken is prepared fresh every day.

Just two weeks ago, KFC Canada announced it would all but eliminate trans fats from its menu in an effort to appeal to increasingly health-conscious consumers.

Not everyone is convinced the marketing initiative will have much of an effect.

"Do I think it's a good idea to put him in a red apron?" asked Jonathan Asher, president of Dragon Rouge, a brand-design firm in New York.

"I don't think it's necessary with the Colonel . . . and I don't think it's believable. If they were just trying to add colour, I think there were other ways to do it."