The fast-food debate was taken to a whole new level when Popeye’s rolled out their new chicken sandwich. Although officially released in early August, the mentions and viral shares of this menu item occurred several weeks later.
While Chick-Fil-A once stood on the first-place platform of chicken sandwiches, Twitter users have begun to question who is actually in the lead. Not only has social media exploded with conversations about which sandwich is superior, it’s common to hear about the debate when walking on campus.
Although very little advertising was done by Popeye’s themselves, the ubiquitous conversation has been lucrative. According to Apex Marketing Group, Popeye’s has earned about $23.25 million in ad value for the mentions of the new chicken sandwich. Basically, through digital, print, radio, television, and social, they did what every brand and company dream of doing; having people do the work for them.
Other fast-food chains like Wendy’s and Shake Shack joined in on the debate which only added fuel to the Twitter fire. When Chick-Fil-A announced that they would be releasing a new product (mac and cheese), people were nowhere near as hyped.
As of right now, Popeye’s has sold out of their chicken sandwich nationwide and people seem to be minorly disappointed, and yet, thoroughly impressed.