KFC to BFC

What is it that comes to your mind when you think of KFC? Well, I guess it is the great taste of chicken created by Colonel Harland Sanders and the red signature color of the brand. In India, KFC has very high brand equity among chicken lovers and another feature the has led to the success of these multinational chain of restaurants is the experience they provide to the customer in terms of taste, varieties, ambiance, etc.

As KFC is one of the highly recognized brands for chicken, people associate and connect to it. KFC's red signature color that is seen on its signage and instore arrangements, people tend to generalize the red color of a food outlet as KFC, which is assurance of great quality chicken.

Well, this results in what is called stimulus generalization, wherein customers tend to generalize the offerings of various organizations on the basis of brand equity built by the strongest player in the category. I came across a food outlet here in Bangalore called BFC with red signage and red interiors. I guess BFC stands for Bangalore Fried Chicken. They have used the red color so that customers generalize the stimulus provided by their offerings as equivalent to KFC.

Stimulus generalization is used by marketers to extend their brands in the same category to leverage the high brand equity of a brand to its various brand extensions. Also, it is used by people to create duplicate products by copying the graphic labels. BFC is one such case of duplication using what marketers refer to as stimulus generalization.

Brand Sense 3

A way to man's (consumers, in this context) heart is through his stomach. 

Well, marketers do realise the importance of having strong association with consumers' taste buds. Here comes the third Brand Sense which is related to sense of taste. This is more relevant to businesses which are into food and beverage industry.

Why do you go to the burger outlet in your lane or to the local idli point? It is because you are highly receptive to taste of their servings and the taste has been consistent throughout. Now, how do businesses capitalise on this sense of consumers?

The answer is quite simple. First, companies have to find the recipe that is well-suited to consumers' taste preferences and which has the potential to become the USP of the product. KFC is the best example to be quoted here. It has created a unique recipe of fried chicken that gives it Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) and which is liked by customers. Second, they must maintain consitency. When a customer comes to a food outlet, he wants to rejuvenate his previous experience at/with the food outlet. As such, consitency is an important concern.

Once an organisation is successful in connecting with the sense of taste of consumers, it is very difficult for competitors to get the same consumer segment with same offerings.