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KFC enlists an animated colonel

 
Published Sept. 5, 1998|Updated Sept. 13, 2005

Nobody sells chicken like the colonel.

That's why the KFC fast-food restaurant chain is taking another stab at creating a character inspired by its late founder, Harland Sanders, for a new advertising campaign.

An animated character based on Sanders, replete with the familiar goatee, black string tie, white suit and cane, is featured in a commercial that debuts on network television Tuesday.

That would be a day before Sanders, who became an honorary Kentucky Colonel in the 1930s, would have turned 108. He died in 1980.

KFC is calling its new animated character The Colonel and intends to make it a regular attraction in its advertising.

But consumer reaction could be critical. This is the second time since Sanders' death that KFC has used an ad character modeled on him.

The Louisville-based restaurant chain hired an actor who posed as Sanders for its "Colonel's Way" campaign in 1994. But consumers failed to embrace the look-alike and the campaign was quickly abandoned.

KFC has used Sanders' image periodically over the years on its packaging and incorporated it into the chain's logo two years ago.

Jeff Moody, who took over last year as president of KFC, said consumers still revere the grandfatherly and folksy Sanders and he wanted "to bring the colonel back into the brand" more visibly.

Sanders introduced his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe at his own restaurant in 1939 and went on to assemble a chain of chicken eateries. He sold the company in 1964, but became a celebrity as a result of the commercials and personal appearances he made for the chain until shortly before his death at age 90.

It has become fairly common for advertisers to weave film clips of deceased actors like John Wayne, Fred Astaire and James Cagney into ads for beer, vacuum cleaners and soft drinks.

But Moody and his marketing advisers thought using clips of Sanders would limit KFC's flexibility in showing it was a company that has kept pace with the times. "We wanted to show what the colonel would do today, not what he would have done 20 years ago," Moody said.

They decided on animation and looked at hundreds of illustrations before selecting a character they liked.

"We had to make sure he didn't alienate consumers who grew up with Col. Sanders. But we wanted something that would be interesting and relate to both young and middle-age consumers," he said.

Actor Randy Quaid, who has appeared in the films Independence Day and National Lampoon's Vacation, provided the voice for The Colonel.

The new ads are being introduced only weeks after KFC reported its first quarterly decline in four years in sales at restaurants that have been open a least a year. Same-store sales, considered a key indicator of a chain's financial vitality, were off 1 percent in the three months ended June 13. The chain cited an unusually strong performance a year earlier when it was introducing a new product. In mid-August, it said sales for this quarter are running ahead of last year.

Moody said the ads with The Colonel from the agency Young & Rubicam were in the works before the sales dip last quarter.

In the ad, The Colonel introduces Popcorn Chicken, which are breaded and fried pieces of white chicken. "AT KFC, we do chicken right _ and not just in a bucket neither," he says.

Shirley Topmiller, who scheduled public appearances for Sanders in the 1970s and still works for KFC, said she likes The Colonel character.

"I think he would have loved it too. He loved anything that was new and loved to see himself portrayed in the latest ways," she said.