Regional fast food chain El Pollo Loco is aiming to be something more than excellent with its new marketing campaign.
Beginning this
month, the Costa Mesa, Calif. company's "Feel the Mexcellence" campaign showcases the restaurant's passion for flavor, preparation and in-store experience. Television commercials in the campaign show
off the chain's signature citrus-marinated grilled chicken and other handmade items.
"The big difference [between us and competitors] is we do so much by hand," Mark Hardison, the company's vice
president of marketing, tells Marketing Daily. "We're getting in at 7 a.m. and marinating our chicken by hand. We're cooking food by hand. That's the biggest thing we're taking credit for and
informing the marketplace of."
The marketing campaign is part of a top-to-bottom marketing overhaul that includes new signage and displays following the "Mexcellence" theme, as well as other
touches like offering receipts with customized messages referencing a customer's order (e.g., "We hope you enjoy your taquitos. We sure enjoyed making them."
A commercial making its debut this
month depicts the company's attempt at creating the world's largest hand-started fire. In June, the company brought together more than 50 of its employees from around the chain to operate a 25-foot
bow drill (a device that moves a spindle back and forth, generating friction and an ember). Although the attempt didn't manage to set the record (flames were added to the commercial via CGI), the
event was more about "bringing the brand together," Hardison says.
Along those same lines, the company has also introduced a Facebook game through which users can operate a virtual bow drill
(using the left and right arrow keys to move the bow and spindle), and pass the flame on to their friends for the chance to receive food coupons. The company is also engaging in a Twitter experiment
trying to get 50 people each to use the hashtags #right and #left to receive coupons.
"It puts fire making in the hands of the user," Hardison says. "It's a fun way to engage Facebook users and
use Facebook the way it was intended, to interact with your friends."