It’s not just a chicken sandwich
Lots of fast food chains have chicken sandwiches: McDonald’s, Burger King – Chick-fil-A is built on them. So how does a new chicken sandwich from the Cajun fast food chain Popeyes get so much attention?
They introduced this big boy on August 12, anticipating demand with enough inventory through September. But by last week it was sold out everywhere, and Popeyes was promising to restock asap.
Apparently much of the interest was generated on social media, fueled significantly by competing brands poo-pooing the new category entrant starting around August 19 (Popeye’s must be grateful!).
It gained a lot of attention on Black Twitter.
And celebrity chefs chimed in.
Ultimately, with lines around the block and Sold Out signed on Popeye’s doors, the traditional media picked up on the story, too.
But the real demand was created via social media. If they anticipated for six week’s of purchases and it sold out in two, that means it was roughly 3X more popular than anticipated. A late summer viral explosion could do that for a small brand.
As Mary Tyler Moore (younger readers: she was an actress who was very popular in the 1960s-80s) once said, “We can only do our best work. Then it’s up to the public whether they like it or not.”
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PS: Anytime a company gets involved in a matter of politics or social policy, even with the best intentions, it can run into some controversy, as this tweet illustrates:
