Last weekend I went to the NC State Fair grounds with my family to go to a Chick-Fil-A sponsored event to promote their new Spicy Chicken sandwich. It was open to anyone who wanted to go. They gave away 10,000 free Chicken sandwiches, had free cotton candy, free Coke products,? free popcorn, free amusement rides, free gift cards for everyone who attended, etc, etc. There were fire trucks there, free temporary tattoos, and even dance exhibitions. Needless to say it was an impressive display of marketing. The Chicken sandwiches alone that they gave away were valued at over $30,000 (retail). The gift cards they were giving away ranged from $1 to $50 so I’d guess the average potential cost of that was around $15,000 since at least 10,000 people attended. I’d imagine the total cost of the one day event was around $60,000.
Now why, you may be asking yourself, would Chick-Fil-A possibly want to do something like that? They’re a huge company for sure but $60k is a lot of cash. You don’t see McDonalds throwing events like that and they’re much bigger. As a business owner I think I understand their reasons. You can say they want to build loyalty or give to the community and those points may very well be true but I believe they would throw the Chicken Shindig of the Century because they know they’ve got a great product. As an entrepreneur I can relate. If you are passionate about what you can offer and know that it is better than anything your competitors have you want to let people know. Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich is infinitely better than anything from any of the other big chains. They obviously know this. And they know that when people have a chance to try it they will know it too. I’m in the same boat. I know that the services that my company provides are far better than any of our local competitors. And this is why I try to spread the word whenever possible. Because if you truly believe in your product or service you wouldn’t want to keep it from others. Now if only I had $60k to spend on a promotional event.