Sold on chicken

FOOD: With its television debut, KFC is building a national presence.

The second coming of Kentucky Fried Chicken with Col Sanders' secret recipe tweaked to Indian tastes has been a roaring success, just as much as the first avatar in India sank without a trace. And KFC, as it's known in common parlance, can't serve up enough buckets of its giant portions of fried chicken, its zany burgers (again, with fried chicken) and its vegetarian offerings.

While it's doing well, and had an identifiable brand equity, unlike its competitors McDonald's and Pizza Hut, it has been absent from the television space. But no more. Says Unnat

Verma, director marketing, Yum! Restaurants, "We wanted to build a proper base before reaching out to customers on a national level." Competition for KFC includes various fast food chains as well as the entire chicken consuming market. While chains such as Domino's and Pizza Hut have used celebrity endorsers, KFC has no such plans. "The chicken is our hero," says Verma.

With 27 outlets across the country, KFC has leveraged recall through outdoor and print advertising, but is now hoping that its TV ad will take the brand to a different level.

"We didn't feel the need for a TVC because we wanted to ramp up our scale first," says Verma. Scalability, according to him, is the biggest challenge any chain of restaurants faces. Its positioning in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai has now prompted it to act at a national level.

The commercial, conceived by FCB Ulka, depicts young Sikh Bunty proposing to his girl. To make the moment special, he takes her to KFC. However, a plate of tempting KFC's chicken adds an unusual twist to the story.

Bunty forgets to propose, instead digging into the enticing food, while his girlfriend waits with bated breath. "The commercial is targetted at the youth, although our target audience covers the entire gamut of customers," says Verma.

Ulka, refusing to put a figure to KFC's ad budget, says the bulk of its current advertising will be dominated by television space. Verma says that the figure is substantial.

It ought to be if the target is to open 100 restaurants in the next three years. Although KFC has restaurants in places like Agra, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, the chain is looking at maximising returns from major fast food consuming metros.