Asphalt is apparently the hottest thing in viral marketing. KFC, an outfit best known for its chicken parts dipped in boiling oil, has announced that it will now also be doing repairs on public roadways.
Beginning in Louisville, Kentucky, and soon extending to four other cities, the fast food giant will fill potholes on local streets in exchange for permission to paint a temporary advertisement at the site. The white chalk stencils notify motorists that the street has been “Re-Freshed” by Colonel Sanders — a reference to KFC’s new “fresh”-centric ad campaign. Promotional materials feature an actor in full Sanders get-up, along with a hard hat and Day Glo safety vest.
The global fast food giant has already sent out letters to city officials around the country, asking them to describe their pothole problems. Whichever four scandidates are deemed most worth will join Louisville in receiving “free” repairs. Transportation officials from Chicago, for one, didn’t immediately dismiss the idea. “We’d be glad to discuss this with the firm and see if it fits with Illinois requirements for quality, safety, timeliness and cost-effectiveness,” said Illinois DOT spokesman Marisa Kollias.
Ironically, Louisville holds the dubious distinction of having the worst new road-building project in the country, as named in this recent story on the Infrastucturist. The new downtown junction of three interstates will be a local nightmare for decades to come. Maybe the Colonel can do something to “re-fresh” that bungled $4 billion plan?
(Photo: Kentucky Fried Chicken)
March 27th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Well, that’s a clever use of their used frialator oil.
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
[...] I think seeing Colonel Sanders slinging asphalt is amusing, but after rolling past your 50th corporate-branded pothole (which would take about [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Corporate-branded potholes mitigate the multitude of sins associated with these craters: a negative city image, cost of repair, auto damage to say nothing of the dangers associated with swerving to miss potholes. As a marketing strategy and promotional campaign creator we naturally see even more ways for Winnipeg, or any city for that matter, to leverage this concept very profitably.
That Winnipeg is even considering this prospect is yet another sign that our city is becoming a can-do urban centre of which we can all be very proud.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
[...] In the meantime, perhaps Colonel Sanders will take up some of the slack. [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
[...] reminds us a bit of KFC’s attempt to brand pothole repair in Louisville and a handful of other US cities by filling them and then spraypainting their logo on [...]