• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 14, 2008

A new promotion tied in with Chick-fil-A's kids' meals, offering kids the chance to put together their own toy space stations, aims to boost repeat visits for the quick-serve restaurant and encourage families to visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

 

The QSR, which changes its Kid's Meal premium seasonally, will give out a gift between Oct. 27 and Nov. 22. One pouch contains one of four components that kids can assemble into a space station toy.

Each plastic pouch-with-meal will include either the station's living quarters, command module, transport vehicle or telescope plus collectors' cards bearing space trivia and games themed to space exploration, and decals (such as American flags) to apply to the space station. (The fanciful space-station toy is convincingly high-tech in appearance, but in no way a replica of the current International Space Station or previous real-life space stations.)

And of course, each pouch also includes a coupon for visits to the Titusville, Fla.-based Space Center complex--good for $5 off per person valid up to six people, enabling a family of six to save $30, for example.

In recent years, the center has been partnering frequently with family-oriented restaurant chains and consumer product marketers. It teamed last May with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese on a successful in-box/online contest promotion, for instance.

The promotion with Chick-fil-A is promising not only because of the popularity of the chain's kids' meal, but because many of the Atlanta-headquartered chain's 1,400 locations are located east of the Mississippi--the region from which the Space Center draws most of its visitors, notes its director of marketing, Thomas R. Olson. (Chick locations span 38 states and the District of Columbia.)

Chick-fil-A's practice of offering premiums with Kid's Meals--but ones with an educational angle as well as fun--along with its emphasis on healthy offerings, has helped the chain continue to attract families even as eating-out expenditures have been curtailed. Indeed, its 40-year record of unbroken sales gains continued last year, with $2.64 billion in sales representing a 16% overall gain and 8.5% same-store gain.

The chain's long-standing initiative, "Growing Kids Inside and Out," aims to have "a positive impact on the lives of children both developmentally and educationally," said its SVP of marketing, Steve Robinson. Kids' premiums are tied in with local, educational in-restaurant "Family Night" events and outreach to schools and community children's groups.

The promotion with the Space Center also will be supported by exposure on the partners' Web sites, ample in-restaurant signage, and mentions both in a mailed newsletter and an email blast to the center's opt-in lists of visitors and fans, according to Olson.

Men's Health recently named Chick-fil-A "America's Healthiest Chain Restaurant for Kids." Last week, the QSR--whose signature products (including its chicken sandwich, nuggets and Chick-n-Strips) were already trans fat-free--announced that it's now eliminating trans fats from all items on its menu, including its Waffle Potato Fries, dessert items and breakfast biscuits.

The kids' meal consists of Chick-fil-A Nuggets or Chick-n-Strips; Waffle Potato Fries or (for a nominal additional charge) fruit cup; and a kid's size milk or apple juice beverage.

As reported in Monday's Marketing Daily, the chain is also currently promoting Chick-fil-A "Eat Mor Chikin" Cow Pez dispensers for $1.99.