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Funny Business
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"I wish there was a bigger word than 'overwhelming', because it's been overwhelming," says Rick Maynard, a spokesman for KFC.
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AP KFC |
He was talking to me about the response to Oprah Winfrey's giveaway of online coupons this week for free Kentucky Grilled Chicken. As I blogged earlier, customers across the country complained that they were turned away at KFC outlets when they showed up with coupons to get their free meal.
"We want to apologize to those people who were inconvenienced," Maynard says. KFC [YUM
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] will be handing out raincheck coupons to those who could not be accommodated due to the chicken run. Those rainchecks can be used beyond the current coupon expiration date of May 19th, and KFC will even throw in a free Pepsi.
Maynard says millions of coupons have already been redeemed, but the company, while prepared, wasn't prepared for lines around the block. That's what happens when you offer people a free lunch!
Now ... about the other blog I wrote, regarding accusations by El Pollo Loco that KFC employees prank called, posing as California consumers who like KFC better, Maynard repeated the line the company gave to another blogger: "We're 'grilling' our employees to see if any have been doing any undercover dialing." They prefer not to talk about the claims of a competitor.
Maynard says the grilled chicken has turned out to be KFC's biggest product launch ever. I'd say so, with some very big lessons learned.
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