Grilled Chicken a Kentucky Fried Fiasco†

Off-Brand Bet Sunk by Poor Planning and Oprah-Driven Crowds

Advertising Age, May 11, 2009 — KFC's grilled-chicken launch was to be the biggest in the chain's history. Now it might also go down as a marketing case study in what not to do.

The story starts with a marketer testing the elasticity of its brand. After all, we all know what the 'F' stands for in KFC, so suddenly insisting the consumer associate the fast feeder with grilled chicken, rather than the Colonel's fried version, was always going to be a stretch.