A Dragon in Sheep’s Clothing

You may have noticed that KFC has been updating stores, painting them dark red on the outside and returning the original, full “Kentucky Fried Chicken” name to the building and accessories.

Personally, I think this is a good thing. The buildings stand out in a sea of other choices, and the design has a very warm, welcoming feel to it. A little retro, too. Stepping back to what made them original and unique is better than the bland “KFC” branding they’ve had for the last couple years.

Now they’re testing “grilled” chicken in some U.S. markets. Actually, it’s roasted, but they’re calling it grilled. KFC execs say they have a new machine that cooks the chicken (bone-in pieces, like drumsticks, etc.) in less time than their previous attempts, and they hope it will finally become a success. Apparently, their previous attempts with roasted chicken flopped.

Nothing wrong with introducing the roasted/grilled chicken, especially if it retains some of the “secret recipe” flavors. But in connection with the new chicken, they’re rolling out a new name, “Kentucky Fried & Grilled Chicken.”

No, I’m not kidding.

The Origin of Brands blog has a great post about it:
http://ries.typepad.com/ries_blog/2008/04/hand-me-a-napki.html

And yes, this sign is part of the testing phase, with an aim to roll it out nationally:

Just where are they going with this?

If you’re interested, there’s more background on the whole initiative from The Huffington Post and Nation’s Restaurant News.