Rats. I was wrong! Not one question was posed yesterday to Yum! Brands' Chris Miller about the KFC/Taco Bell rat video when he appeared on a mainstage panel "Brands - Lost in Cyperspace?" Nothing from
the moderator Rex Briggs. Nothing from the audience (who were admittedly in a bit of a lunch coma.) I ran into Chris a few hours later at the cocktail party and put my suspicion to him directly:
Did he cut a deal that he would only appear if no rats were mentioned? He insists: NO NO NO! However, he was as surprised as me that no one raised it. And relieved at the same time. His theory: the
panel was really focused on POSITIVE branding in cyberspace. So it didn't cross their minds. Chris danced around my questions about what Yum! has been doing since to tune up its online PR machine.
Said he wasn't authorized to talk about it because that's all handled by public affairs. What he offered was this: You've got to worry about every single store location. Retail is retail.
