The Amazing Dixy Chicken Race
THE BRIEF
Students were tasked with choosing local (to Birmingham) clients from a list provided by the lecturer or to find one on their own. Based on preliminary research, we were then asked to provide three issues faced by the client that we intended to solve. Following this, a Public Relations plan was then to be created, informed by a combination of primary and secondary research.
RESEARCH
Secondary Research
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Consumer research reports in conjunction with industry journals heavily informed; primary research, objective/target setting, strategy and tactics throughout the development of the campaign.
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Primary Research
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Informal interviews, questionnaires and surveys were employed to gather real-world information from the target audience as this would either support data gathered through the secondary research or contradict it, prompting further research. Unfortunately, as the respondents were selected through convenience sampling due to time constraints, reliability was limited.
PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED
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There was little-to-no awareness of the fact that Dixy Chicken was open until late in the night. This reduced the potential for sales for town centre branches in the young (clubbing) student market as they would go elsewhere for a late night snack after a night out.
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The fact that all chicken sold in Dixy Chicken branches had been sourced from halal farms, was not advertised or openly promoted, an opportunity to gain endorsement from the Muslim community and open themselves up to a strong demographic in Birmingham.
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While the name 'Dixy Chicken' was familiar to the population, few questioned actually knew the sheer number of branches in and around Birmingham, or their locations. This may have also grown to become a hindrance to sales as alternative fast-food outlets may have been chosen as a result.
OBJECTIVE & STRATEGY
In a sentence, the objective was: To position Dixy Chicken as a leading convenient, halal, fast-food fried chicken specialist
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The audience-facing slogan that would be used to accomplish this became:
Dixy Chicken, whenever you want, wherever you want!
THE AMAZING DIXY CHICKEN RACE
The idea was a riff on the television series, The Amazing Race, wherein multiple two-person groups raced around the world following clues to lead them to the next destination. The idea was to have people across Birmingham apply to take part as contestants through social media following press releases, social media content and promotional material scattered in the surrounding area.
Contestants would stand the chance to hold an all-expenses-paid event in a branch of their choosing and invite a limited number of their friends and family to join in the fun. They would also be able to pick a charity for Dixy Chicken to donate £1,000 (food bank if none chosen), and finally, a framed photo of the team would be hung in the branch of their victory party. Teams that would finish the race, but not achieve first place, would receive 7 free meal vouchers to be availed at any Birmingham Dixy Chicken branch and get to choose a charity for a £100 donation. Participating teams unable to complete the race would receive 1 voucher and pick a charity for a £50 donation. This adds a social responsibility aspect to the competition so that participants can choose to support causes they believe in. (Prizes could be scaled to fit budget appropriately)
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Those selected to participate would arrive in the central Dixy Chicken branch on the morning of the competition to receive their first clue. They would then each join their two designated Dixy staff members, the first would be in charge of providing social media updates via. live tweets and streaming for audience members to follow from home, supporting social media engagement efforts and ensuring contestants are safe and following the rules. The second staff member would be in charge of driving a Dixy Chicken branded vehicle designed to grab attention from from bystanders and promote the team's hashtag for onlookers to find out more.
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Participants would also have the opportunity to post their clues online for help using their custom hashtag provided and promoted by Dixy Chicken. The poster of the first correct answer in response to the clue would be rewarded with an automatic invitation to the event and be able to bring a +1, should their chosen team win. This would give the audience at home a vested interest in following the goings on of the entire day-long event. It also provides an interactive medium for online engagement and a full feed of user generated content with a wide reach.
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Clues would lead teams to each of the various Dixy Chicken locations around Birmingham, guiding teams through different routes around the city, highlighting the different branches and maximising physical presence and visibility, which may be wasted having two teams at the same location at the same time. Initially, a golf-cart was in mind for this vehicle, for its unique look, open passenger-visibility, and smaller spatial profile to fit on the sidewalk. If this proves to be an obstacle, a mini-car would achieve a similar outcome. Having a large physical presence would serve to highlight and promote interest in the event and stops (Dixy Chicken locations).
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All clues would be different for each team, but would follow the theme of either halal chicken, Dixy Chicken or Birmingham (ie. trivia, history, origin, etc.) and be presented in different formats (ie. riddles, pictures, puzzles, menu items, etc.). This would highlight certain themes central to the focus of the campaign. Additionally partnerships with other brands for sponsorship opportunities could be used to share the spotlight for integration with the clues and brand presence.
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Each Dixy Chicken branch would provide contestants with flags to be presented at the final location as evidence. The first team to arrive back at the city centre location (start and end point) would be declared the winner and receive their official 'Golden Ticket' entitling them to the prize. The race will be designed logistically to ensure teams reach the final location by late-night to highlight its late closing time. This will also result in a full day of wall-to-wall content for Dixy Chicken.
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Press and media outlets will also be informed ahead of time for coverage in what is to be a massive city-wide campaign taking over Birmingham and countless social media feeds. They will also be invited to cover the victory party with the potential for exclusive coverage on future large-scale events, further developing relations with third-party news sources. This would also provide another day of media coverage to capitalise on and be a test of lasting audience resonance and retention on the campaign.
CONTROL
Risk can be mitigated by pretesting this concept and testing engagement with a select closed group of loyal customers. Focus groups can also be used to formulate the riddles to ensure there are no controversial aspects to this campaign. It is important that great care is taken when dealing with the participants as this campaign will raise their personal profiles and any bad publicity they may have towards their experience or the quality of the branches may temporarily have heightened reach.
EVALUATION
Overall success of this campaign would be fairly straightforward to measure and monitor. Social media and news articles would be able to provide qualitative and quantitative data on how well the campaign was received and lasting engagement still reaching new audiences. Share numbers would indicate interest levels, whilst likes and comments suggest engagement and potential enthusiasm for something similar in the future.
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The true test would come from in-store information, such as the change in late-night customers, overall customer numbers in the Dixy Chicken locations visited during the race, and change in the number of Muslim customers in and around Birmingham.
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Follow-up surveys, interviews and questionnaires would be helpful months down the line to further monitor message retention and event awareness. This would also inform future endeavours on tactics that may have had the most impact to focus on and low-value initiatives that could be removed to yield maximum efficiency in communications material.
LIMITATIONS
As previously mentioned, primary research with a greater sample size comprised of randomly selected respondents would be more representative of the population and may provide key insights that would inform the campaign more reliably and reduce risk. This campaign was based on an unlimited budget and kept vague enough to be scaled down dependent on budget constraints and opportunities. This was done because core elements could be adapted for smaller scaled campaigns, however working on a limited or non-existent budget would be difficult to scale up if certain opportunities become available later down the line.