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KFC high pitched “mosquito buzz” commercial creates a buzz with no substance
By now, many people have heard about this KFC commercial (available on the KFC website) and contest. The gist of it is they play a Mosquito tone during the commercial, and if you identify exactly when, you get a $10 KFC gift card or something.
Buzz marketing is all the rage — but I think KFC is missing the point. The point of buzz marketing is to create a buzz about your product. If people are talking about your product, then you’re accomplishing something as a marketer.
But these KFC commercials aren’t do that — they have people talking about the commercial, not the product. No one remembers anything about the commercial or the chicken. They’re just asking around if they could hear the tone. (I could, but only barely.)
My office was talking about it — but no one was at all interested in eating KFC. I sat in on an advertising class at SMU that was being interviewed by Jeff Brady of WFAA Ch. 8 TV for the story. The class pointed out a lot of good things — will hard of people claim Americans with Disabilities protects them in this sort of thing? Will this encourage young people to eat more junk food, since only young people can hear the tone? What do mosquito tones have to do with chicken?
To boot — after the story, I ran into Jeff Brady and his cameraman at lunch. At New York Sub (a local restaurant) — not KFC.
Mosquito tones are interesting when they have applications — like the ring tone that’s silent to teachers and authority figures but audible to the kids. That’s an application of the mosquito tone that will get people talking and acting.
Shoving a mosquito tone into a commercial just to generate buzz may generate some talk, but not the productive kind for a company selling products. I doubt they’ll sell any more chicken because of this commercial.
That’s my take on buzz marketing — what’s yours? I could be wrong, of course. If people are talking, it could be putting KFC on the mind and making it a more viable food option… but I’m skeptical.
Thu April 12th, 2007 7:11 pm
Filed under Advertising & Marketing, Televsion
3 comments
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I was thinking about this the other day. I watched the video on YouTube and had no problem hearing the buzz, nor did a fifty-something colleague. And there’s a disconnect between the commercial itself and the whole mosquito buzz thing. They don’t interact at all.
Boring commercial + dropped-in mysterious annoying sound = not much.
I think that KFC’s advertising is flailing around right now. Yes, like a chicken with its head cut off. I read they offered Sanjaya thousands of dollars if he’d pose for a commercial with a bucket haircut. How does this sell chicken?
I think it’s gone downhill, advertising wise, ever since it dropped the Kentucky Fried Chicken name and opted for KFC. It’s still a fried chicken restaurant. Why not embrace it?
I’m twenty-three and have always been able to hear high pitches quite well. I can often tell if a television or computer monitor has been left turned on with no input signal from other rooms of a hosue. The buzz is so loud for me that it hurts my ears and I hope they stop running the commercial soon.
I’m twenty-three and have always been able to hear high pitches quite well. I can often tell if a television or computer monitor has been left turned on with no input signal from other rooms of a house. The buzz is so loud for me that it hurts my ears and I hope they stop running the commercial soon.