The Chick-fil-A-First-Amendment-Marketing-Nuclear Weapon

By Sonja Corbitt
8/8/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

It was the marketing, not just the statement, silly

What should have figured prominently in last week's news was largely ignored, but I suggest that in the coming years it will be recounted in every Marketing and Economics textbook. While neither Dan Cathy nor his father is Catholic, their business model reflects Catholic moral teaching on subsidiarity, a strategy proven last week to be a huge economic success, in no uncertain terms.

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NASHVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - Now that some of the Chick-fil-A furor has died down and rabid defenders of "tolerance" have shown themselves to be complete hypocrites, it might be appropriate to explore the interesting Catholic principle that inspired millions of people to stand in line for hours in defense of Dan Cathy, his company, and his right to support "Biblical marriage."

While the liberal mainstream media was certainly "baffled" enough (to put it charitably) by the tsunami of support to barely cover it, and has no apparent clue why Americans keep behaving in such surprising ways, one openly gay man seemed to understand perfectly. YouTube personality, Antoine Dodson, came out to show support for Chick-fil-A employees, and freedom of speech and belief last week in Huntsville, Alabama, dining Wednesday on Chick-fil-A's spicy sandwich.

"I'm here for supporting the employees," Dodson said. "The gay community is fighting against Chick-fil-A, but they're not thinking about where this leaves the employees. So I'm here to be in support of the employees and I'm also coming to get that spicy chicken sandwich."

Marketing Genius

What should have figured prominently in last week's news has absolutely been largely ignored, but I suggest that in the coming years it will be recounted in every Marketing and Economics textbook. While neither Dan Cathy nor his father is Catholic, their business model reflects Catholic moral teaching on subsidiarity, an organizing principle stating that a matter ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized authority capable of addressing that matter effectively.

Last week's illustration of freedom of speech and religion at work in America proves in no uncertain terms that subsidiarity works. One of Chick-fil-A's core operating principles is that its marketing should be done on the lowest, grass-roots, community level. Marketing strategy at quick-service food chain, Chick-fil-A Inc., aims for emotional connections and customer satisfaction rather than the movie merchandising tie-ins and big-budget campaigns of its competitors. It is the "David and Goliath" marketing approach.

If one thinks about it, he almost never sees a television advertisement for Chick-fil-A, except during a CFA Bowl game. Billboards are customary methods of publicity for CFA, but the main marketing thrust of this company is community.

Subsidized somewhat by the CFA Corporation, franchisees are constantly investing in their communities by giving away, yes GIVING AWAY, thousands of dollars of food and merchandise each year. Every month, through a screening process, CFA supports local families, businesses, schools, organizations, and non-profits in their communities through Family Nights, Spirit Nights, gifts of merchandise, contributions of free food, and/or free appearances by the CFA cow mascot.

When they launch a new product, say, the spicy chicken sandwich that came out in 2010, CFA often employs reservation-based, free sampling of the new offering for loyal customers who are signed up for announcements through franchise websites. Then, CFA marketing directors everywhere routinely go into their communities with CFA cow mascots and give away those and other products at soccer fields, college campuses, local businesses, and even pass them out randomly at street intersections.

About the spicy chicken sandwich launch, Vice President of Brand Strategy and Design, William F. "Woody" Faulk, illustrated the CFA marketing approach, saying, "We want to invite our customers to taste the flavor and quality of this spicy sandwich, but we don't want a cattle-call setting where we won't be able to extend 'second mile' service to our customers. This reservation system provides a more personalized way to introduce our exciting menu addition."

When Faith Works in the Marketplace

Founder Truett Cathy determined early on that his faith should be the guiding force behind every CFA business effort. "All throughout the New Testament there is an evangelism strategy related to our performance in the workplace. ... Our work should be an act of worship. Our work should be our mission field. As long as we are stateside, let's don't think we have to go on mission trips by getting a passport. ... If you're obedient to God you are going to be evangelistic in the quality of the work you do, using that as a portal to share [Christ]," he said to the Baptist Press in July.

Indeed, last Wednesday, there were local reports of extra ...

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1 - 9 of 9 Comments

Judy Claar
9 months ago
jean Catherine: Good Post! Noon Blessings...
JeanCatherine
9 months ago
This is about freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Yes, the Prince of Peace is about peace etc. but He would want us to stand up for freedom of religion peacefully as it has been done here. One man stood up for his religious beliefs even in the face of adversity. This isnt just political this is protecting our God given rights, yes, God given rights to have God given rights. We need to speak up in the public square or loose those God given rights. the Lord spoke of truth to Pilot and Pilot totally didnt understand what our Lord was talking about. The Lord was speaking of the Kingdom of God and its truth. We have no excuse we have to understand it. This was ok as far as Im concerned and someday maybe we wont be able to defend ourselves in the public square and maybe we will have to sacrifice our lives for the above but hopefully in our hearts our Lord will show us the Way in this regard. Right now I live the Lord's right now and if it means standing up for what I believe in then I hope I have the God given understanding to do so with the Lord's blessing. Im worried about what He will say when He asks me why I didnt speak up for His Truth. We have no excuse like Pilot the Truth has been revealed. Mr. Cathy God Bless you and your eithics and religious beliefs and God Bless our brothers and sisters who suffer from Same Sex Attraction. God Bless the man above who thought more of his principles and then his one aspect of his life---his sexuality. He though of others who would loose their jobs over who he is. His sexuality isnt his only asset and he realizes this. God Bless to all.
Alex
9 months ago
Karl,

Nuclear weapons actually are not intrinsically evil. Nor is Jesus' idea of peace exactly the same as the liberal's idea of peace. Jesus had multiple opportunities to rebuke the most deadly weapon of his day - the Roman soldier - yet he did no such thing, but instead commended them for their great faith and leadership.
rafaelmarie
9 months ago
ARE YOU A BUSINESS AND WANT TO MAKE BOO-COO CASH???

WELL, ADVERTISE A PRO-MARRIAGE SUPPORT DAY!

AND CHRISTENDOM WILL SUPPORT YOU WITH MILLIONS BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!

CONSIDER YOURSELVES INFORMED!!!
Rob
9 months ago
I see where the author is coming from. But I think this fast food chain was successful independent of this event. I wonder if what we really saw was the impact of polorization versus genius marketing or Christian values? There seems to be no end to what we will do when something is made an "us versus them" issue. I'm not sure where the author lives, but locally, this event was covered all day and days after so I'm not sure what she is referring to there and this website (which is media right?) has been covering it nonstop. But I it was nice to see those in the media who took something that could have stayed contained to the religious press, try to use it to destroy. Kinda of blew up in their face. So I'm really not sure what the message is here. But it is nice to see people do something that requires actions versus just words.
Tom McGuire
9 months ago
Marketing is a complicated business strategy. One event does not determine success of a strategy. Success of the business is yet to be determined. I agree our faith does influence our business decisions, but for the follower of Jesus it is dangerous to identify with any specific business strategy.
abey
9 months ago
It can be called as "To serve with love'.
KarlVDH
9 months ago
Brothers and Sisters... seriously? Now, THI is godly rhetoric? We're followers- supposedly- of the Prince of Peace, and we're supposedly people who value LIFE above all things, but we're likening a political and economic statement to the most violent, deadly WEAPON ever devised by man?
I think we need to get a little priority check here, folks. God forgive us.
Terri
9 months ago
Well, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I can see that the same sex stuff might have less to do with it than the media wants us to thing.

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