KFC, most memorable brand of 2009
14 Dec 2009
The Kentucky Grilled Chicken menu item, which was introduced by the KFC unit of Yum Brands, landed first on the list of the eighth annual Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey, conducted by Schneider Associates, IRI and Sentient Decision Science.
Consumers are asked to name a product introduced during the year; if they are unable to, they are provided a list of 50 products in a process known as aided recall.
Five of the top 11 most-remembered new products (there was a tie for 10th place) were fast-food items, reflecting the perilous state of the economy this year. In 2007 and 2008, technology products dominated the list.
Underlining just how difficult it is to bring out new products is the fact that 51 percent of survey respondents could not remember a single new product that came out in 2009. As high as that figure was, it was lower than the 69 per cent who could not recall a new product in 2008.
These are the four other fast-food products that scored the highest in 2009: the McCafe coffees from the McDonald's Corporation, No 2; the Torpedo sandwich from Quiznos, No 6; the Angus Deluxe, also from McDonald's, No 7; and Taco Bell Volcano Nachos, from another unit of Yum Brands, No. 8.
The rest of the list: the Beatles Rock Band video game, No 3; the Snuggie, No 4; the Blackberry Storm, from Research in Motion, No 5; the T-Mobile Google G-1 phone, No. 9; and in that two-way tie for 10th place, Samsung L.E.D. TV sets and the Off Clip-On insecticide from S.C. Johnson & Son.
For 2010, KFC intends to keep trying to build consumer awareness for the grilled chicken because ''over 80 percent'' of those who try it buy it again, he said.
In conducting the survey, Schneider Associates said it found several trends at work, among them the increasing importance of word-of-mouth marketing to the success of a product and the rising number of information sources used by consumers to learn about products.
