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Kentucky Grilled Chicken most memorable new product in 2009
November 30, 2009
KFC has done its job of keeping Kentucky Grilled Chicken top of mind, as consumers have named the menu item the "Most Memorable New Product Launch" of 2009.
The survey, conducted by Schneider Associates, IRI and Sentient Decision Science, polled 1,125 consumers age 18 and up, and uncovered data about factors related to awareness of new consumer product launches and consumer behavior. Other limited-service brand launches on the Top 10 list include McDonald's McCafe line, Quizno's Torpedo sandwich and Taco Bell's Volcano Nachos. Memorable launches from other industries included the Blackberry Storm, Beatles: Rock Band video game and Snuggie blanket.
"Kentucky Grilled Chicken was the biggest launch in our brand's long and storied history, so it's validating to hear that America thinks it's as big a deal as we do," said Javier Benito, executive vice president of marketing and food innovation for KFC. "When you launch a product that this survey reports is more memorable than the Snuggie, you've really done something big!"
KGC being named the "Most Memorable New Product Launch" breaks a two-year streak when tech product launches topped the survey. The last time a non-tech product was named the "Most Memorable New Product Launch," the top product was the KFC Famous Bowl in 2006.
The online "Most Memorable New Product Launch" survey was conducted during October 2009.
Making the Most Memorable list is an accomplishment in brand awareness in any year, but especially so in a down economy, according to the Media Decoder blog in The New York Times.
From the blog:
Underlining just how difficult it is to bring out new products is the fact that 51 percent of survey respondents could not remember a single new product that came out in 2009. As high as that figure was, it was lower than the 69 percent who could not recall a new product in 2008. ...Usually, about 7 percent of customers of fast-food restaurants try a new menu item, Mr. Benito said, but in this instance the grilled chicken was tried by 13 percent — a figure that rose to 19 percent after a fuss over too much demand for coupons that had been promoted on an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show.""You can imagine no one expected" the demand for the coupons, Mr. Benito said. "It was crazy."
The survey also made note of several trends, including "the increasing importance of word-of-mouth marketing to the success of a product and the rising number of information sources used by consumers to learn about products." Additionally, most respondents said free samples were the main driver in making a purchasing decision.
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