News

Church's brings in pros to align national, global brands

September 15, 2017

Church's Chicken and its international sister brand, Texas Chicken, has engaged Ceso & Clear as its global brand positioning and experience agency to set a foundation for the brand's growth in both core legacy and emerging markets. The branding company will work with JWT Atlanta to evolve both brands on the national and worldwide stage and create a unified household name, a news release said. 

"We began this process by looking for an international branding agency to help us identify how we evolve our brand outside of the U.S. — both the Church's Chicken brand in the Americas and the Texas Chicken brand in Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere,” Church's EVP and Global CMO Hector Munoz said in the release. “But what became abundantly clear is that we need a consistent approach to set ourselves up to compete longer term, so we realized it made sense to consolidate the work streams and unite resources to create a global brand positioning initiative."

CESO & Clear has a track record with other respected global food service brands in creating consumer touch points that align well with system messaging and other marketing efforts, the release said.

"The leadership at Church's has demonstrated a commitment to take this brand in a new direction," Ceso Executive Creative Director Tom Kowalski said in the releases. "We will be clearly defining that unique space in the market that delivers on fundamental truths. We are honored to help Church's optimize their brand — making it the catalyst for change across all customer touch points. Driving meaningful connections with customers and communities can help Church's become a leading contender in their market."

Church's leadership said they are taking a "dual-path approach," to the brand alignment, balancing the work that JWT does in the U.S. to meet short-term timelines with a deepening of brand equity worldwide. Chain leadership plans to use the brand's competencies, taking into consideration local and national similarities and differences to connect with consumers.

"This is a unique opportunity to take a brand that is in various points in its life cycle across the globe and work to develop one strategic global vision for the brand," Clear Project Executive Strategy Director Rhonda Hiatt, said in the release. "It's a significant opportunity to unlock global growth and ultimately deliver a phenomenal customer experience."