It will go down as one of the least thought-out marketing publicity stunts since Sony used a decapitated goat to promote a video game.
The idea seemed simple enough. Strike a deal to have Oprah to "give away" two pieces of KFC's new grilled chicken to everybody in America. Tell people to download an Internet coupon and show up at a store. Publicize madly. Post a Tweet from Oprah reading, "You're Getting a Chicken! You're Getting a Chicken!"
But like many good intentions gone bad, this campaign didn't plan for the most obvious potential PR problems:
Contingency: Not enough Internet. The servers crashed from so many people trying to get coupons at the same time. Maybe we understand how the Colorado Rockies weren't ready to sell World Series tickets, but how can one America's largest consumer companies not have the plumbing worked out?
Contingency: Unprepared stores. Consumers didn't read the fine print and assumed every KFC was a participating store. Many stores were overwhelmed. Some locked the doors. Other taped hand-written "no Internet coupons!" signs to the door. Police were called. Managers freaked out, politicians called for action.
Contingency: Consumers gone wild. People who didn't get their free chicken behaved like they were being denied the right to vote. In New York, angry citizens staged a sit-in while the world's news media looked on. The Internet exploded with smarmy bloggers, angry customers, finger-wagging criticisms and conspiracy theories. Talk shows had a field day.
Contingency: Caught in a lie. Animal rights activists loathe KFC. But just last year, PETA gave Oprah its "Person of the Year Award" for helping to expose factory farm abuses, including a show titled "How we treat the animals we eat." A Huffington Post column called it Oprah's "most hypocritical move yet."
Both KFC's and Oprah's PR machines are in full swing. They'll survive.
But companies with fewer resources for damage control should be paying
close attention.
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