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Research Outline

Prepared for Valentina B. | Delivered September 3, 2019

KFC Marketing Division

Goals

To understand the differences in KFC's Marketing Division between US and global.

Early Findings

  •  Andrea Zahumensky is the CMO for KFC US. Her guiding principles are a "small town girl with small town values".
  • Zahumensky loves to bring new and creative ideas to the brand. She is credited with the successful chicken and waffles promotion and bringing the first female Colonel to fruition.
  • The global CMO for KFC is Catherine Tan. She is from the UK but also lived in Australia for many years.
  • Tan's interests include health, home renovations and outdoor recreation.
  • KFC is part of Yum! Brands. Marketing spend is complicated and partially-funded by franchisees: "Company-owned and franchise restaurants are required to spend a percentage of their respective restaurants’ sales on advertising programs with the goal of increasing sales and enhancing the reputation of the Concepts. Advertising may be conducted nationally, regionally and locally. When multiple franchisees operate in the same country or region the national and regional advertising spending is typically conducted by a cooperative to which the franchisees and Company-owned stores, if any, contribute funds as a percentage of restaurants’ sales."
  • In 2018, global KFC "franchise contributions for advertising and other services" was $456 million.
  • However, Kantar reports that KFC spent $231.2 million on domestic marketing, so it seems there is additional advertising spent outside of franchise contributions reported on their annual report.
  •  Franchise Times reports that KFC's global marketing budget is between 4-6% total revenues. KFC's total sales were $26.239 billion, so 4-6% is $1.04-1.57 billion. This means marketing spend is roughly proportional to the ratio of domestic versus international KFC locations.
  • Ms. Tan has stated that marketing at KFC is decentralized.
  • KFC employees can and do move between marketing divisions. For example, George Felix previously worked for the US division and then was promoted to Director of Marketing for KFC Global.