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.

Starbucks' Volunteer Push Gets Boost From 'Oprah Effect'†

Pledges to Coffee Chain's 'I'm In' Campaign Soar After Talk-Show Mention

Advertising Age, January 21, 2009 — Starbucks' campaign to promote volunteerism (and store traffic) got a huge bump today from no less than Oprah Winfrey — and by extension, Barack Obama.

The talk-show host talked up the java giant's "I'm In" campaign, which encourages consumers to pledge five hours of community service before the end of the year. Those who commit to doing so at Starbucks between now and Sunday will be rewarded with a free coffee.

Ciao Bella—in Your Grocer's Dairy Case

How friendly media attention helped a Little Italy gelato shop move from being a restaurant supplier to a premium supermarket brand

BusinessWeek, June 9, 2008 — Ciao Bella was once content to produce generic desserts. The maker of premium gelato and sorbet sold its wares mostly in bulk to restaurants that served them as unbranded "home-made" ice cream. Retail was just 10% of the company's business in 2000 and the least profitable part. The last thing Ciao Bella wanted to deal with was the logistics of shipping pints of frozen ice cream to far-flung stores. "We fought the growth of retail," says Deborah Holt, the company's vice-president for marketing.

But today Ciao Bella sells through 4,000 retailers accounting for half of its business.

Can't Get Enough Oprah? Wait a Few Years†

Winfrey, Discovery to Launch New Network in Her Likeness, But Without Her TV Show

Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2008 — Americans love "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but are they ready for the Oprah Winfrey Network? Ms. Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced yesterday plans to launch a new channel — which will go by the acronym, OWN — in the second half of 2009. Ms. Winfrey will be the creative force behind the channel, developing programming on topics familiar to her viewers, such as dealing with bullying and recovering from divorce.