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El Pollo Loco Airs Latest in KFC Grilled Chicken Spat

El Pollo Loco Inc. has aired its latest commercial in an ongoing game of chicken with KFC Corp.

The Costa Mesa-based Mexican-style chicken chain’s latest commercial in its “Taste the Fire Challenge” campaign takes issue with some beef byproducts used in KFC’s marinade.

“The use of beef ingredients in grilled chicken just seems wrong to me, and we believe most consumers would agree,” said Steve Carley, chief executive of El Pollo Loco, in a statement.

The 15-second ad features Carley in a cow pasture. It aired last week in select markets.

The restaurant chain also released the video online through social networking sites.

The marketing feud between the two chicken chains began in April when El Pollo Loco challenged KFC, part of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., to a taste test after KFC’s grilled chicken debuted.

KFC, known for fried chicken, rolled out its grilled chicken with a marketing stunt offering a piece of free chicken to anyone who came to the restaurant.

El Pollo Loco fired back with its “Taste the Fire Challenge” with Carley challenging KFC to a taste challenge and giving away two pieces of grilled chicken the day after KFC’s giveaway.

“We are out there protecting our turf and making sure people know,” Mark Hardison, vice president of marketing at El Pollo Loco, said in April.

Both companies ran television commercials with their chief executives touting their grilled chicken.

It’s became a “CEO to CEO” challenge, Hardison said.

El Pollo Loco set up a toll-free hotline to make it easy for KFC officials to accept its challenge for a taste test.

Several prank voicemails were left on the hotline that El Pollo Loco contends were from KFC’s corporate headquarters.


LinkedIn Effort

Mountain View-based LinkedIn Corp., one of the largest business-oriented social networks with more than 40 million members in 200 countries, recognizes Modesto, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara,combined population of 600,000,as stand-alone cities on the social networking site.

But it lumps Orange County’s 3 million residents and businesses into the “Greater Los Angeles” area.

Several OC members have complained to LinkedIn about it not acknowledging an entire business community between Los Angeles and San Diego. But they’ve only received an automated response from the social network operator.

One automated response spurred Sven Johnson, a Laguna Niguel resident and employee of Irvine’s Escoe Bliss Communications Inc., to launch his “We Are Orange County” LinkedIn group.

The group has nearly 1,800 members and is growing.

“If you have one person complaining, it’s going to fly under the radar,” Johnson said. “If you suddenly have a group of a 1,000 or more, I imagine an organization would listen.”

The group has made some headway, according to Johnson.

“I got my first live response from a live person,” he said. “He advised me that they are aware of the problem, but that it is not high on their priority list.”

Johnson isn’t letting it end there. He continues to use the social network to reach out to LinkedIn executives to make the change to the system.

“How can we make Orange County visible as a business hub when one business network used by most of the world’s businesses now doesn’t recognize the area?” Johnson said.


Bits and Pieces:

Los Alamitos-based Online Credit Reporting Corp.’s Suite Solutions has hired Tustin-based HKA Public Relations. Suite Solutions, which provides credit reports to bankruptcy lawyers, is expected to start a social media and traditional public relations effort Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc. has hired New York-based Media- edge:cia, part of Britain’s WPP Group PLC, to handle global planning and buying chores on its $200 million ad account. The ad shop already was working on parts of Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s business in select markets. Activision Blizzard did a review in February, a little more than a year after Santa Monica-based Activision’s $18 billion acquisition by France’s Vivendi SA, parent of online game maker Blizzard Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies Inc., a celebrity and athlete endorsement shop, has joined forces with Chicago-based Centro LLC, an online media planning and buying company, to reach consumers in local markets. The shops look to leverage Brand Affinity’s roster with Centro’s ability to target regional market places to give advertisers the ability to reach consumers with endorsement campaigns Laguna Beach-based Smart Girls Who Surf, a natural skin care company, has hired Huntington Beach-based MKM to handle its product launch and placement along with overall public relations. The youth-oriented ad shop will be helping Smart Girls launch its line of alternative sunscreens first along with lotions, hair care products and lip balms.

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