If there was one thing that Sanders knew better than how to make a quick and mean fried chicken, it was how to sell himself. In the early days, Sanders understood that if he was going to make his small service station stand out from the rest, he would need something that was different from everyone else, something that nobody else could possibly have. The answer? Himself.
Sanders became a master of the brand image early on in his fast-food career. Almost as soon as he started up his business, he began using his own character and larger than life personality as the image for his company. Sanders had, after all, been made an official Colonel of the state of Kentucky, and he wanted to use that title for all of its effect. He thought that by harnessing the power of that character – a colonel from the Deep South – he could not only give customers something to identify the company with, but also bring greater legitimacy to it. After all, who else would know what good fried chicken was if not a southern colonel?
Soon, everything from eight-foot billboards to Kentucky Fried Chicken take-out buckets began to be plastered with Sanders’ image. Not only did his face become the company’s trademark, but so too did his white suit, black string tie, and white goatee. Sanders understood the power of this image and that is why in the years since the company has been in operation, that image has only been changed once each decade. Changes, it should be noted, were also minimal. Today, KFC visitors can still see Sanders smiling in his white suit and black string tie on everything they order.
Sanders was one of the first successful American businessmen to teach the world that a well-known – and well-liked – spokesperson could add more credibility to a company. And, Sanders had no problem filling that role. He believed he had a great product that people would fall in love with if only they could try it. It was, after all, a recipe he had spent years perfecting, and thus a special product for Sanders. So, who better to sell it than the most passionate person behind it?
But, Sanders’ love for his product was not the only reason he decided to put himself at the front and centre of his company’s marketing campaign. Time and again, the results would speak for themselves. For instance, whenever Sanders personally appeared on local television promoting his fried chicken, company-wide sales would jump by ten percent.
That success is why Sanders’ image continues to be an integral part of the company’s operations even long after his passing. In fact, the company’s brand has become the world’s first to be visible from outer space; in 2006, KFC unveiled a giant image of its founder in the Nevada desert. Dubbed an ‘astrovertisement,’ this is just the next step that follows from Sanders’ strategy of using himself to sell the product.
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