• by Laurie Petersen , February 23, 2007

KFC is turning the demise of the family dinner hour into a marketing opportunity with a campaign to Bring Back Dinner.

The fast-food purveyor unveiled the Web site www.bringbackdinner.com yesterday in support of the program. Central to the site are Mom points of view on dinner, grocery shopping and getting kids to the table. The Colonel's Email Club offers up to $180 in coupons in exchange for basic household demographic data.

In something of a stretch, KFC has issued the "Good Grade Challenge," suggesting that adding meals at KFC to the menu will turn your kid into an A-student, or one who strives to be. (Research from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse does support that children who eat dinner with their families five or more times a week are more likely to have higher grades in school--regardless of gender, family structure, or family socioeconomic level. The idea is that eating together promotes conversation.)

"We're so confident that good things will happen if you come together at the dinner table, we created the KFC Good Grade Challenge," the Web site states. "Just add another KFC family dinner to your weekly calendar, one night a week for ten weeks, and we believe you'll see your child's grades improve. A few needy students will also win cash awards to help support their education."

Parents are invited to register by March 23 to participate in the promotion, which runs through June 1. If the child's grades do improve, KFC says it will pick up the cost of the child's KFC dinners over the 10 weeks, for up to $50. (The promotion is limited to 1,100 offers.)

The companion Bring Back Dinner essay contest will give a chance to win $2,500.

KFC will market the site with tags on TV ads, on packaging, in print and in-store POP, on radio and through online ads.