KFC to "Refresh" fill pot holes around America with cause branding effort

Given the general feeling among the American populace that US companies are run by selfish, money grubbing people, cause branding is surfacing as a hot marketing tool again as a way for entities to build trust and brand awareness hopefully leading to increased sales and loyalty.

One such case is KFC's "Refresh" pothole program that has begun in its home city of Louisville, KY. KFC is working with that city to repave or "refresh" potholes with new pavement "labeled" with "Refreshed by KFC" chalk statements. The program ties to the fast food retailer's new "fresh" campaign which promotes the freshness of its chicken offerings.

In these tough economic times cities are very short on funds for infrastructure repairs and the Mayor of Louisville welcomed this civic project with open arms. KFC is reaching out to Mayors throughout the US with the program and expects more cities to join this cause marketing effort.

Cause branding or cause marketing has been around for several decades but seems to resurface with greater activity when consumer morale is down along side weak economic times as a way for brands to break though the clutter and do "meaningful" things to build connections with consumers.

Whether or not KFCs sales will be enhanced by the pothole filling campaign remains to be seen but it is getting a great deal of free PR for the company as a corporate do good-er in a period when few companies are doing much of anything positive for the public.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Comments

[DebitMan]

Sounds good if you are the first doing it.
When the potholes go south, does KFC have any liability?
Months from now, will folks look at the roads and say "KFC should have fixed this?"