Back in August, Popeyes put their name high-up on the fast-food map by launching a brand new chicken sandwich. The meal was a complete hit, resulting in sold-out locations all over the nation and an astonishing demand with customers lining up for hours in hopes of getting a bite of the delicious new item.
Despite the demand being high and the launch being all over social media, the biggest part of Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich launch was the social-media war that resulted with their main competitor, Chick-fil-A. Social Media users were going off about Popeyes’ new sandwich compared to Chick-fil-A’s staple sandwich, and neither company was hesitant to clap-back.
August was filled with funny tweets and memes from customers and social media personas comparing both sandwiches, and while most were praising the crispiness of the new competitor, the fight quickly became about which company was superior in overall quality.
The jokes continued, more tweets were shared, and the “social-media war” escalated. It was all fun and games, but the joke ended when Popeyes completely sold out of their new beloved chicken sandwich. The Louisiana based fast-food chain tried to combat this inventory issue by creating a quirky (and actually funny) social media campaign regarding their sandwich.
For marketers, it is essential to touch on the most relevant points of conversation that garner attention for our target markets, and Popeyes did just that. With their ‘BYOB’ campaign, they invited all of their social media followers to continue to visit their locations by “bringing their own bun” and building their own chicken sandwich.
Targeted towards college-aged individuals who are familiar with the ‘BYOB’ terminology, the campaign sparked strong reactions on social media but still did not divert from the fact that their sandwich inventory had gone to zero.
Fast forward two months later and Popeyes is back with an even more brilliant marketing strategy – they are relaunching their chicken sandwich (for good, this time) while still taking jabs at Chick-fil-A. The sandwich is launching on Sunday, November 3. Yes, Sunday, because as we all know, Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.
With a genius video posted on their Twitter, Popeyes let the world know about the sandwich’s permanent comeback onto their menu all throughout the country. While being concise, funny, but straight to the point, Popeye’s relaunch campaign is remarkable and has sparked a craze all throughout social media platforms. Chicken fans are both shocked and delighted by their sarcastic branding, and at the same time, excited to finally get a bite of the famous crispy sandwich.
As we wait on Chick-fil-A’s response to the new campaign, one thing is clear: Popeyes’ marketing team has brilliantly taken advantage of the casual feud that arose a couple of months ago and had generated an outstanding campaign out of it.
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