Ad Campaign Reanimates Colonel Sanders, And Millennials Get The Joke

Yum Brands’ Kentucky Fried Chicken has turned the corner sales wise – six straight quarters of revenue increases – thanks to a savvy ad campaign and rededication to Colonel Sanders’s food standards. The moves seem to appeal to Millennials, a major accomplishment considering that 60 percent of Millennials have never eaten at KFC and the generation as a whole distrusts big company advertising. But thanks to a “re-Colonelization” of its flavor and preparation standards, and new ads featuring Norm Macdonald as a gently satirical reincarnation of the Colonel, Millennials are taking notice. The company is also adapting its chicken-on-the-bone menu to adjust to modern trends: 70 percent of the market is strips, nuggets and sandwiches these days, says KFC’s CMO. So, “we’ve got to adjust.”