Warner Lambert and Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada, both of Toronto, are trying to leverage consumer awareness in each other’s products with a major cross-promotion, running until the end of February.
The sampling program, developed by Toronto’s Sales Promotion Services, will see 1.2 million packages of Trident’s Superpak 16 chewing gum passed out to buyers of kfc’s new Popcorn chicken.
Bite-sized chunks
Popcorn chicken consists of bite-sized chunks of chicken, breaded and deep-fried.
kfc introduced the product in early 1992 in the u.s., and here in late 1992.
Superpak 16, which competes in the large-format, single-package segment of the chewing gum market, contains 16 individually wrapped sticks of Trident gum.
Since it was introduced by Warner three years ago, Superpak has captured about 18% of the Canadian chewing gum market.
In the cross-promotion, a package of Superpak 16 is included in kfc’s ‘Super Pak Combo’ meal special, which also contains a helping of Popcorn chicken, fries and a Pepsi.
Ian Hyndman, kfc’s director of regional marketing, says the cross-promotion is a ‘good fit’ because both Trident and Popcorn chicken are targetted at teens and young adults.
Hyndman says Popcorn chicken will be pulled from the menu at the conclusion of the promotion, but he says kfc will consider re-introducing it as a regular menu item if the test indicates there is consumer demand.
So far, it would appear there is.
Hyndman says tracking results coming in from Western and Atlantic Canada, where the product was first introduced in Canada, show the promotion has been generating a ’15 % increase in traffic.’
The cross-promotion, kfc’s largest in a decade according to Hyndman, runs from Jan. 5-30 in Western and Atlantic Canada, and from Feb. 1-27 in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
Regional promotion
Richard Glover, Trident product manager with Warner Lambert’s confectionery division, Adams Brands, says he started out looking for a vehicle to give away 100,000 Superpak 16s in a relatively minor regional promotion.
But Glover says he decided to reassess his plans after learning, through Sales Promotion Services, of the chance to associate the brand with the national launch of Popcorn.
kfc is supporting the cross-promotion with a $1-million tv buy and a $250,000 buy on radio and in newspapers.
Sales Promotion Services will handle point-of-purchase and exterior signage.
