The chicken sandwich has changed fast food for America. With the Popeye’s chicken sandwich, it ran out two weeks after its initial release this August. The sandwich surprised fans, and many deemed it as the best chicken sandwich. Looking at this from a marketing perspective, the uproar that this sandwich created on the internet had vastly increased the “hype” and demand for the sandwich. The debates whether this was the best chicken sandwich also increased demand and awareness for it, with people defending or arguing about the sandwiches of places like Chick Fil A. The use of social media could have been seen as a form of guerilla marketing by Popeye’s since it used a cheap and unconventional way to increase business. With fast food being monopolistic competition, the hype around this sandwich, along with the perceived best taste, helped it stand out against its competitors. This shows how important advertising and differentiated products are in making products successful. The demand was eventually so large that there was a shortage where there was a greater quantity of demand than supply. This caused the sandwich to be sold out until recently. There were many downsides that were caused by the sandwich with long lines and angry crowds after the sandwich not being available.
Now, the sandwiches are back and people are happy. Some say the sandwich is different, but there is still a large demand for them. Another reason the demand got so large was because the supply was smaller. When we look at the fast food industry itself, the chicken sandwich could easily be one of the favorite products, ever. With the new wave of healthy foods, the sandwich brought many people back to the traditional fast food places. In many ways, the hype around this one chicken sandwich influenced the whole fast food industry. With just Popeyes, this chicken sandwich gave it an importance with a “brand” and it was differentiated from other competitors.
I took it upon myself to try the sandwich myself, and see if it really is the best chicken sandwich. My conclusion? Chick Fil A is better.
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Mika, this is your best post yet! I agree, especially in monopolistic competition, where each firm is competing for the consumer's cash, it is imperative to create differentiated products; this is exactly what Popeye's did with their chicken sandwich. With their guerrilla marketing strategy, Popeye's ingrained in consumers' heads the greatness of such a sandwich. Lastly, psychologically speaking, many people possess scarcity mentality which makes sense for why the demand would go up when there is a shortage.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Chick Fil A is definitely better. Regardless, what Popeyes did with its marketing was genius. Before the initial release of the sandwich, if someone asked me to name fast food places that sold fried chicken, Popeyes would not have crossed my mind. Today, if someone were to ask me where to buy a chicken sandwich I would tell them Chick Fil A or Popeyes, with myself being proof of how their marketing effects consumers and the market.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to what we have seen with how Minecraft became popular, as creator Marcus Persson used social media to grow his product, Popeye's has done a similar thing. Advertising campaigns have been significantly supplemented by both talk on social media, and news coverage as well. For instance, a story came out about a murder taking place over an argument related to skipping a spot in line at a Popeye's in Alabama. While troubling, incidents like these generated further talk about Popeye's chicken sandwich, further serving as advertising for the food chain.
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