• Ad Age, Friday, July 10, 2009 8:42 AM

Emily Bryson York, who yesterday scolded Burger King for a pattern of ads offensive to one group or another, today sheds some light on a back-to-basics, grass-roots marketing strategy that's steadily increasing sales for fast-food rival Chick-Fil-A.

The growing chain, which is known for its lightly breaded chicken sandwiches, yesterday posted a 10% sales gain through June. Today it's hosting its fifth-annual "Cow Appreciation Day." Anyone who shows up dressed in "full cow regalia" at any one of its 1,450 restaurants gets a free meal -- entrée, choice of side and a drink. Come with just a cow-printed accessory, however, and you'll just get an entrée.

The event is not the chain's biggest marketing day, senior manager-marketing Steve Nedvidek tells Bryson York, but it is "the funnest." Operators now hold parties in their restaurants to prepare for the event and summer bible camps, families and daycare centers in many cities drop by to eat while working on their costumes. The promotion was developed as an extension of the chain's 14-year-old "Eat Mor Chikin" campaign.

On the Burger King front, meanwhile, franchisees rejected a plan to offer double cheeseburgers for a buck for four months, the Chicago Tribune reports. Headquarters is now trying to gain approval for a six-week price reduction .

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