Cows have a lot of wisdom to share – who would have thought?
Yesterday the Think Baseline team attended an AAF-GF presentation given by Chuck Bradford, Manager of Media Integration at Chick-Fil-A, Inc. In between munching on delicious fare and laughing at insider anecdotes, we learned a lot about the famous Chick-Fil-A cows and their mission of self-preservation (chicken over beef!).
Bradford shared the story of how the famous chain began, rose to the top, and how they’ve maintained such high standards over the years. He explained the motivation behind their marketing efforts, and we found many of the principles to be relevant to marketing for small businesses.
The guiding principles?
People do not like ads. People do not trust ads. People do not remember ads. If it looks like and ad or smells like an ad, people will tune it out.
What will make your ad different? How do you create a great ad, one that is memorable enough to “stick to the roof of one’s mind?”
According to Bradford, great ads are:
1. Single-Minded and FOCUSED. The Chick-Fil-A cows have one mission and one mission only – to stay alive by encouraging people to eat chicken over beef. By keeping their messages simple and not deviating from the mission, the cows have become immediately recognizable across the country, and were even voted America’s favorite characters.
2. Simple and Uncomplicated…Not Simple-Minded. Bradford compared their cow advertisements to the popular comic strip “Farside” – while the concept may be simple, the message is very clever and unique. “A great advertising campaign is like a comic strip. It can endlessly be refreshed and made interesting, yet the key characters and characteristics never change.”
3. Memorable. Once you’ve seen one of the cows and their sloppily-painted signs, it’s hard to forget them.
4. Likeable. Everyone loves a cow, especially one with hilariously poor grammar.
5. Contain a BIG Idea. Their big idea came when they decided to add 3-D elements to their already-awesome billboards (think giant 3-D cows, real cars and trucks, and more). They even began to “take over” billboards for other companies (with their permission, of course).
Built on a high-quality product and service, the Chick-Fil-A brand and community follows three standards:
1. Operational Excellence – Provide the quality food and customer service that people expect.
2. Second-Mile Service – Exceed customer expectations 100% of the time.
3. Emotional Connection – Employees are personable, engaging, and welcoming.
With the proven success of this corporation, we’ll be sure to hold on to these nuggets of wisdom.
