Popeyes Beating Of Chick-fil-A Won’t Last

Popeyes chicken sandwich made the multinational franchise suddenly a hot brand, beating Chick-fil-A.

In terms of buzz, that is. Interest in Popeyes brand, as measured by Google trends, spiked from 14 on August 11 to 100 over the last week.

That’s’s the date Popeyes introduced its chicken sandwich, expanding into an area of the fast food market dominated by Chick-fil-A, and peak popularity for the item — well above Chick-fil-A’s score of 45.

For a long time, Popeyes score remain in the low teens, well below Chick-fil-A’s score, which was steady in the low 40s. Then, August 11, Popeyes score began rising, and eventually bypassed Chick-fil-A’s.

The sudden rise of Popeyes brand, following a new product introduction, is a case study in buzz marketing.

The company’s marketing campaign targeted the right customer group, the “innovators,” who are more receptive to innovative products than others. Then, it created the right message, conveying the product attributes, and spread the message by launching a WOM and buzz campaign in social media.

And it created a great deal of hype among consumers with a severe product shortage, which isn’t clear whether it was real or part of the marketing campaign.

Still, Popeyes beating of Chick-fil-A won’t last. Once, the shortage is eliminated the buzz will fade away.

That’s what happened with previous WOM and buzz campaigns by Burger King —  sister company of  Popeyes. As discusses in previous piece here, the company stole the buzz from McDonald’s and Starbucks early this year with the launching of high-profile product offerings like the Impossible Whopper, and 17 cent coffee.

They both created a great deal of WOM and buzz among “product innovators” in social media. And a shortage of the Impossible burger added to the hype.

Nowadays, there’s very little hype for Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, and there’s little talk about its 17 cent coffee offer.

Meanwhile, Burger King’s score in Google’s trend continues to lag behind the scores of both Starbucks and McDonald’s by a big margin.

Popeyes enthusiasts should be reminded that, unless the company can keep the hype alive with new offerings, fashion and faddism fade as quickly as they spread.