KFC's Positive Buzz Dives; Hooters' Improves

  • October 13, 2010
KFC's marketing stunt of hiring college women to wear sweatpants bearing the name of its new Double Down sandwich on their backsides must be working on some level, as the chicken chain has expanded the program since it launched a few weeks ago.

But apparently it has not been good for the tone of KFC's word-of-mouth.

YouGov's BrandIndex, which tracks brands' buzz each weekday through interviews of an online panel representative of the U.S. online population, reports that KFC's buzz score has plummeted from 20.8 on Sept. 8 to 1.3 as of Oct. 11.

A zero score indicates an equal amount of positive and negative buzz. Scores below zero indicate negative buzz, and scores above zero signify positive buzz.

Meanwhile, the buzz scores for Hooters were negative during most of September and early October. However, the chain's score had risen to 2.5 as of Oct. 8, and is now over 5, BrandIndex reports.

Is there some connection? No way to tell. Still, it's intriguing, given branding expert Steven Addis's recent observation that KFC (intentionally or not) is "becoming the Hooters of fast food."

 

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