For a majority of young Americans, KFC’s iconic founder, Col. Harland Sanders, might as well be the Noid.
While Col. Sanders has been around much longer than Domino's 1980s-era mascot, KFC found in a recent survey of consumers between 18 and 25 years old that 31 percent reported having no idea who the founder of KFC was. Fifty-two percent of respondents thought Col. Sanders was a made-up corporate icon, while 61 percent couldn’t identify the image in KFC’s logo as Col. Sanders.
Louisville, Ky.-based KFC is out to change that with a yearlong publicity campaign to reintroduce Harland Sanders to younger consumers and to commemorate what would have been his 120th birthday. Officials hope Sanders’ life and legacy will lend credence to the chain’s ongoing marketing efforts, the way other real-life spokesmen like Jared Fogle and Dave Thomas helped Subway and Wendy’s in the past.
“Colonel Sanders wasn’t Kris Kringle, Father Time or Uncle Sam,” said longtime KFC franchisee John R. Neal. “He was a living, breathing, wildly successful entrepreneur who impacted our national cuisine. The Colonel was a marketing genius, even though he had only a sixth grade education. I’m really proud that we are embarking on this effort to celebrate his many accomplishments.”
The first part of the campaign is a nationwide search for a painter to create a new portrait of Sanders to hang next to one painted in 1973 by legendary artist Norman Rockwell. Now through Sept. 30, artists can upload their sketches of Col. Sanders to www.kfc.com/portrait or e-mail them to [email protected] to enter the search. The winning painter will receive a commission of $1,100 — $100 for each of the 11 secret herbs and spices in the Sanders' Original Recipe — and the task of painting the portrait with a special paint blended with the secret herbs and spices.
KFC has called attention to Col. Sanders in the recent past, by petitioning the U.S. Postal Service to create a stamp featuring the brand founder and by creating the KFC Colonel’s Scholars program, honoring high school seniors who demonstrate Sanders’ entrepreneurial drive.
Sanders opened his first restaurant in 1930 in Corbin, Ky., and used a $105 Social Security check to start the franchise business Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 65. The chain now known as KFC has since grown to more than 15,000 locations in 109 countries and territories.
KFC is a division of Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].