Introduction
Effective brand strategies can help the brand to get an edge over other rivals in the competitive market. The fast-food market indicates major fast-food players. These brands have tried to maintain the brand image to clutch the immense range of satisfied and loyal customers. This study depicts a prominent brand’s inventory along with a comprehensive analysis. By applying several brand management theories and concepts, the purpose of the study is to draw several brand associations. Finally, the study will present some key recommendations.
KFC is an American fast-food chain. It is the second largest fast-food chain in the global fast-food market by sales. The company was founded in 1930 by Harland Sanders.
Brand Inventory
Main products of the company are Fried chicken, Wraps French fries, chicken sandwiches, soft drinks, Breakfast, Salads, Desserts, and Krushems (Milkshakes). The firm is operating with 20,000 outlets in 123 countries (Rico, 2017). Sanders worked hard to develop a new technique for frying chicken. In 1940, he came up with the final recipe of different herbs and spices. In 1991, the firm adopted “KFC “as its official name. The company evolved with time due to business and menu expansion. 2015 was a crucial year for the company because other fast-food chains suppressed it. Thus, the company survived due to effective change management practices. Packing change, menu development, and new advertisement series have helped help the company to power up the brand strategy.
KFC has streamlined the brand positioning in both developed and developing countries. For Instance, in Chin, KFC has positioned better in the minds of customers by claiming it as United States Fried, chicken expert. The company wants people to create a positive perception regarding the unique taste of US fried chicken. Different fried chicken products are processed differently. High quality, differentiation, and uniqueness of the product are three main elements, which sustained the brand image and effective positioning.
The prominent element of the brand is its logo. The logo of the brand is “Its finger-lickin’ good.” Kentucky Fried Chicken has used franchise as a critical market entry strategy. Asia, Africa, Europe, Caribbean, Middle East, and North America are KFC regions. The effective franchising strategy assisted the company to enter the new potential market.
Brand Analysis
The brand knowledge structure is to be understood by applying the customer-based brand equity pyramid. Customers in different fast-food markets have associations with brands due to several factors. All these factors are to be discussed in the brand analysis. The most important thing for the company is to streamline or spread the brand information. It can increase customer engagement in a competitive landscape.
Consumer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid
Identity, meaning, response, and the relationship is four main pillars of consumer-based brand equity pyramid. Identify depicts salience. Meaning consists of performance and imagery. Response refers to judgment and feeling. Finally, the relationship indicates the resonance.
Brand Identity
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Salience
KFC is a fast-food retail chain. It produces and sells different fried chicken products. It is one of the most prominent fast-food chains in the fast-food industry. The company intends to meet the food needs of people, especially in urban areas. It is the second biggest fast-food giant, just behind McDonald. People know KFC as a key fast-food operator around the globe. It is a well-recognized brand, which contains customers associations across the world.
Brand Meaning
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Performance
The performance of the brand has been improved with time. Interestingly, KFC wants improvements regarding both the internal and external business environment. Some ineffective brand strategies put the brand down a decade ago. However, the business performance must be improved. The performance of the company can be measured through quality, speed, and price. High quality and differentiated products after the reinvention of the product menus have changed things for this brand. The firm has successfully remodeled restaurants to integrate with this swift, fast-food industry, (Taylor, 2016). Employee training is also a part of the brand strategy to experience or observe favorable customer perception. Today, the firm depicts an immense range of customers in the global fast-food industry. These customers are quite satisfied and loyal, and it justifies the excellent brand performance.
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Imagery
Selling the highest quality fried chicken to customers at an affordable price has also powered up the brand image. Customers want to enjoy high quality and differentiated product menus at low rates. KFC targets every customer segment, and it helps to create the image in the fast-food market. The core brand strategy is to provide tasty chicken at low prices. Middle-class people, travelers, students, and employees love this brand due to low priced food along with high quality.
Brand Response
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Judgment
People in the fast-food chains perceive quality and services to make their decisions. The level of product quality and service is excellent, and it seems the brand response to customers. It can be further elaborated by describing the superiority and consideration.
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Superiority
The unstoppable rise of KFC in the fast-food industry indicates its superiority. Continuous brand extension or product development process has created barriers for new fast food to arrive. The firm wants to be unique in the competitive market, and it has done it through changes in the brand portfolio. It is the second top fast chain by sales and sales are expected to increase due to this unstoppable rise in different regions.
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Consideration
The firm is prestigious in many regions due to the remarkable use of celebrities. Due to the changing face of fast food, the brand has decided to make some critical strategic decisions. For Instance, in many regions, the brand offers or provides a fast-food casual restaurant space. KFC is determined to provide an atmosphere and streamline different values to customers. Opening the restaurant in different shared street spaces is a unique idea or considerations that can attract walkers and contain long-term relationships (Strang, 2017). It looks like a different consideration. However, it justifies the differentiation strategy of the company to grab customers and increase sales.
Feeling
The brand expects what customers feel in the fast-food industry, especially in urban areas. For Instance, customers usually think that it provides better-fried chicken as compared to other companies. People have become health conscious in urban and rural areas. People believe that KFC meets all health and cooking standards, and it increases people’s assertiveness. On the other hand, people are quite aware of obesity. Obesity has become the primary health concern in the United States and many other developed countries. People or health-conscious customers started feeling that KFC is one of the reasons for this issue. It seems a significant threat to this brand, as it can impair sales and convert the customers (Nishtar, 2017).
Resonance
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Engagement
KFC is developed through effective engagement strategies. It is a fact that the company has a broad range of loyal customers that streamline the preferences to eat burgers, chicken pieces, and many other products. The best way to engage customers is to align the business strategy with the national culture. Apart from the United States, the firm integrates with cultural values to accordingly develop product menus, create atmosphere, and shape customer preferences (Donaldson, 2015).
Community
Several initiatives have been taken by the company to meet the needs of hungry children around the globe. Interestingly, KFC is taking anti-hunger initiatives in developing counties. It is creating awareness by making short, animated films and shaping buckets for these children. The purpose is to lift the bottom line of developing countries to emerge in the economy and become greater contributors (Bestmediainfo.Com, 2016). It has had a good impact on the brand. The community involvement actually worked for this brand to sustain the business in the presence of local fast-food giants.
Suggestions & Recommendations
Some key insights have been obtained from the brand analysis. For Instance, people are becoming health conscious, which is a huge threat to the brand. However, the firm must shape an appropriate strategy to reduce the visibility of this threat. For Instance, the firm must control its restaurants in different markets to take control of the quality and relevant health standards. The company has successfully sustained a good brand image, and to protect it, taking control of restaurants can be the best strategy for better business sustainability.
The company must reshape the product and business expansion strategy. Brand extension, especially in developing countries, is highly recommended because of the high population, different possible segments, and needs. If the firm integrates with the traditional or cultural food of people, it can experience favorable customer perception, making the customer satisfied and loyal is the main priority of the brand (Howwemadeitinafrica.Com, 2013).
Both recommendations are strategies for this brand to make some improvements. The business expansion is a steady process, but these considerations are necessary for the management to be a well-recognized fast-food brand.
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the KFC brand needs to change with time to improve the business process and become one of the most relevant fast-food giants in the fast-food market. Cultural integration can be the best strategy for this brand for sustaining emotional and sentimental attachments with customers. The firm wants expected perceived value of customers in the competitive landscape. However, the brand has to do its homework first. The study relied on the KFC brand, its inventory, brand analysis, and recommendations. The consumer-based brand equity pyramid has been used to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the brand. So far, KFC is a successful company despite facing some prominent controversies. Now, it needs to uphold the performance and image as well to keep an edge over other rivals.
References
Bestmediainfo.Com, 2016. KFC’s ‘bucket of hope’ aims at feeding hungry children. [Online] Available at: http://bestmediainfo.com/2016/11/kfcs-bucket-of-hope-aims-at-feeding-hungry-children/ [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Donaldson, C., 2015. How KFC builds its brand through engagement. [Online] Available at: https://www.insidehr.com.au/how-kfc-builds-its-brand-through-engagement/ [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Howwemadeitinafrica.Com, 2013. How fast-food chain KFC addresses local cultures and tastes in Africa. [Online] Available at: https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/how-fast-food-chain-kfc-addresses-local-cultures-and-tastes-in-africa/ [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Nishtar, S., 2017. KFC Needs to Take Responsibility for Africa’s Obesity Crisis. [Online] Available at: http://fortune.com/2017/10/11/kfc-yum-brands-africa-obesity-crisis/ [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Rico, 2017. KFC In Costa Rica Getting A Facelift; New Locations. [Online] Available at: https://qcostarica.com/kfc-in-costa-rica-getting-a-facelift-new-locations/ [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Strang, E., 2017. The changing face of fast food: Inside the design of KFC’s new urban restaurant. [Online] Available at: https://theregister.co.nz/design/2017/12/
changing-face-fast-food-inside-design-kfcs-new-urban-restaurant [Accessed 29 November 2018].
Taylor, K., 2016. KFC says it has been making the same mistake for decades — but now it has a plan to beat Chick-fil-A. [Online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/kfc-is-finally-turning-business-around-2016-5 [Accessed 29 November 2018].
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