• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, September 14, 2007

For the first time, Yum Brands' KFC and Taco Bell are teaming in a promotion. This one involves the Philadelphia Eagles' 75th anniversary and Pepsi.

In 170 KFC and Taco Bell restaurants in "Eagles territory," consumers can get a 32-ounce Commemorative Cup with codes to enter in a sweepstakes at philadelphiaeagles.com. Throughout the season, consumers have a weekly chance to win prizes, culminating in the grand prize--a pair of season tickets for the 2008 home pre-season and regular season games at Lincoln Financial Field.

The sweepstakes is supported with 30-second TV ads showing scenes from great moments during Eagles games past with the tagline, "Play to win," ending shots of the Commemorative cup and the KFC, Taco Bell and Pepsi logos. There is also a 30-second radio ad and point-of-purchase displays as well as support during all Eagles-related programming and other high-profile sports programming in the Philadelphia DMA.

Jason Rossano, account manager at LevLane, Philadelphia, which created the ads, tells Marketing Daily there are three reasons for the first-ever promotion between the two Yum Brands brands.

"We're targeting the same group--heavy fast-food users, men 18 to 34," he says. That demo is Taco Bell's primary target and KFC's secondary target. "You add the whole sports, Eagles thing to it, it's a natural."

It is also being done in the Northeast, where Yum often houses KFC and Taco Bell under the same roof. Rossano says a quarter of the Philly DMA restaurants are multi-brand.

The third reason is that an Eagles sponsorship is "normally out of our price range for one brand, but with two brands you get an economy of scale," Rossano says. "Budgets get tighter as media inflation continues, so you have local co-op groups banding together to do different things. I could see KFC and Taco Bell doing something similar to this in another market."