Chick-Fil-A: Which Came First, The Chicken or the CEO?

My colleague Allie Macpherson posted a discussion thread on US fast food chain Chick-Fil-A's recent PR challenges following its CEO's anti-gay marriage statements. There's a nice summary from Forbes here. I've dived into the discussion and my thoughts follow...

From my POV, the issue is whether or not you can separate the views of a company's senior executives from the company's brand.

I don't believe you can, especially when this particular brand has overtly linked business to the beliefs of its CEO Don Cathy - such as not opening on Sundays. In terms of response, Chick-Fil-A has tried not to draw attention to the issue. Last time I looked, there was nominal response on Facebook and Twitter (and nothing on the .com), other than to say they're wanting to separate politics from chicken selling.

This is a tough stance - especially on social media - where Chick-Fil-A has been held up as a savvy social media marketer. You can't turn social on and off like a light-switch. Either you want to build and engage with your community - or you don't. You can't duck ('fowl' pun intended) the issue just because your community wants to talk about something other than how good your biscuits are. You do need a stance and should deflect as much as possible to a place where that stance can be debated. Chick-Fil-A needs to divert as much attention as possible away from the brand - and in this case it means Don Cathy needs to step up.

The brand needs to acknowledge Cathy's ' right to express an opinion - which is protected under the First Amendment as many commentators have pointed out. And having made this statement, it should defer to Cathy's own social media presence / website. And then keep deferring. This will require Cathy to invest considerably more in his own brand and social channels, but as he's made his own views very public, it's a step he needs to take if Chick-Fil-A's marketing is to get back on track.

Cathy's website should spell out his POV and Chick-Fil-A should refer discussion away from their public properties to this site. Won't work 100% of the time but will at least divert some of the discussion - good and bad (from the brand's POV).

Beyond this? Chick-Fil-A should set up another website that responds to rumours (like the fake Facebook pages that were allegedly set up by the PR function). Show evidence to prove that this wasn't a Chick-Fil-A initiative. This type of site has worked well in the past for Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama and can help squash repeat rumours.

And then endure. The brand's most senior executive has drawn a line in the sand. I assume he did so knowing the potential impact on the brand. Cathy should have the strength of his convictions to manage this stance through the courts of traditional and social media. This will never completely isolate the issue but will help the brand get back on its feet.

This discussion is now part of the brand's DNA, and therefore needs to form part of the ongoing PR response. While the conversation explosion will die down, and things will generally return to discussions about chicken, steps like agreed consistent messaging and deflecting the discussion to the rumour / CEO's personal site will help Chick-Fil-A focus on more chicken-centric marketing. But Cathy needs to step up with his own branding to allow this to happen.

On a rather sad side note, Chick-Fil-A's VP of PR Don Perry died of a heart attack last Friday.

Photo Credit: Jenherra, Day 3: Protest Photography