KFC Recruits Chippendales To Introduce New Mashup Menu Innovation

Guests can receive four free Cinnabon Dessert Biscuits with the purchase of a 10-piece meal or larger. The biscuits are also available for individual purchase at $1 each or four for $3.

Parenting is hard. That’s why there are books, blogs, even Twitter accounts that exist simply to support parents through the process. Such affirmation – whether via humor or basic inspiration – can be the difference between a really good day and a not-so-good day.

Moms in particular are about to get a bigger boost of encouragement courtesy of KFC’s latest marketing campaign.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, KFC has tapped some real Chippendales (the famous male dance troupe, and “dance” is used conservatively here) to play the part of its “Chickendales,” who provide personalized Mother’s Day videos that can be shared via social channels. It’s sweet, really – having a chiseled professional dancer reminding you that you’re the best mom in the world.

What’s even sweeter is that these Chippen, er, Chickendales aren’t just showing off their moves. They’re promoting a new Cinnabon Dessert Biscuit, available from April 29 through June 30. KFC is giving away four free Cinnabon Dessert Biscuits with the purchase of any 10-piece meal or larger, as well as for $1 each or four for $3.

It’s quite an introduction, pairing KFC’s iconic biscuits with Cinnabon’s cinnamon brown sugar glaze and cream cheese frosting. Or, as CMO Andrea Zahumensky describes in a press release, “a delectable sweet treat that’s uniquely KFC.”

Apparently, U.S. consumers eat about 800 million KFC biscuits each year, but we can expect that number to jump – along with the chain’s incremental sales numbers – with this new dessert/snack addition.

Incrementality is certainly good for business. So is offering an innovative and exclusive limited-time menu item that drives both news and excitement.

KFC is on a bit of a roll lately with innovative pairings – Pickle Fried Chicken, a Cheetos Fried Chicken Sandwich test and the long-awaited Chicken and Waffles debut in November. The brand has found a bit of an innovation cadence of late and so far it’s worked.

Its Chicken and Waffles LTO provided such a boost, for example, that the company brought it back just a few months later. Yum CEO Greg Creed even called the launch “a huge hit.”

Expect this pace to continue from KFC. In January, Zahumensky told AdWeek’s CMO Moves that the Chicken and Waffles rollout marked the debut of the brand’s innovation program.

“We have this world-class food innovation team who has rallied around this idea of bringing impactful innovation, and doing it in a way that is delicious and crave-able,” she said in the podcast. “This is just the beginning of the kind of innovation we’re going to bring forward as we go into 2019.”

At that time, the Cinnabon Dessert Biscuits were in test and Zahumensky hinted at other new mashups and partnerships as part of this so-called innovation program.

She also noted that KFC is ready to go bigger and bolder on its rotating Colonel campaign, now in its fourth year. This is evidenced by not only the Chickendales (whose lead dancer, by the way, is fashioned after the Colonel), but also the debut of Reba McEntire as the brand’s first female Colonel last year and the recent virtual influencer Colonel on Instagram.

“Sometimes as marketers, we get tired of our campaigns faster than our customers do. At KFC, we have a campaign that’s working, that our customers are excited about,” Zahumensky told AdWeek. “And we’re sticking with it and finding ways to continue to elevate it and be bolder with it and it’s really paying off for us.”

Choosing Mother’s Day as the hook should also pay off for KFC. The holiday is historically a major boon for restaurants. In 2018, about 87 million adults visited a restaurant for a Mother’s Day meal, according to the National Restaurant Association. That equates to about 34% of all adults in the U.S. – the same number of people who cook their special meal at home.

The dining-out plan isn’t a cop out, either. The association polled moms last year to gauge their gift requests and 47% simply wanted a restaurant meal with family. If those same moms happen to choose KFC this year, chances are good they’ll stick around for dessert.