• by Larissa Faw , July 7, 2016

Popeyes and its creative agency GSD&M celebrated National Fried Chicken Day on Tuesday July 6 with the "Drive-Thru Bash" that delivered free chicken to lucky fans. 

The concept used Facebook Live to throw a "virtual drive thru" party with impromptu comedy, live jazz, and interactive trivia questions, including the year Popeyes was founded (1972) and Popeyes original tagline (Love that chicken from Popeye's). The event was hosted by comedian Bri Fitzpatrick who played a Popeyes worker and jazz musician Ty Suite.  

The Popeyes social media team then hand-selected fans to receive lunch on Popeyes. The selected fans were direct messaged via Facebook for their location details, and online delivery service Postmates delivered their lunch order within approximately 60 minutes of the interaction. 

About 50 cities from the east to west coasts were eligible for deliveries on National Fried Chicken Day. 

Two Facebook Live feeds, at 11:30 am and 2:30 pm EST, earned over 23,000 views, and more than 17,000 fan comments, and over 3,000 likes.  

These responses aligned with expectations, says Tim Eger, group creative director, GSD&M. "Today, we saw a huge opportunity to engage with Popeyes fans—new and old,"  he said.  The Facebook Live events, he added, “let Popeyes and its fans do the one thing we all love to do: Eat and enjoy legendary, Louisiana-style fried chicken." 

This is the first time a brand has used Facebook Live to create a “drive-thru”-type activation, according to the agency.