KFC's Smart Move

In the early 1990s, the name Kentucky Fried Chicken was changed to KFC. The still kept their motto of Finger Licking Good. The main reason for such change is to submerge (or hide) the word "Fried". I know this for a fact, and I don't need a bibliography to prove my claim.

Anyway, since the name KFC also successfully hide the other words "Kentucky" and "Chicken", KFC decided to launch a Fish Sandwich!!

When I first saw KFC's Fish Sandwich advert in The Star page 16 main paper, I was having my business cap on. My first thought was... KFC went out of focus. If I am a competitor, I will find this move a weakness on KFC's side, trying to garner market share from fish lovers. Like a desperate move to make more profit. I think many competitors will share the same feeling I am having. It's true if you look at it. Why would a food industry who have been relying on chicken throughout their 30++ years of business would suddenly lost focus and create a fish product?! 1) Desperation for profit aka weak or 2) A smart move.

KFC's rebranding from the original Kentucky Fried Chicken wasn't a fluke. Since they're KFC, and the motto doesn't mention 'chicken' at all, though their mascot is a chicken and display signs shows chicken, it's totally alright to start a non-chicken product. This will put them in the same playing field as Secret Recipe who started with the main product of cake, and has slowly moved towards a dining restaurant serving other things than cakes.

There is no lost in focus, the focus has always been 'customer', and putting on a consumer cap, one thing for sure, Malaysians love trying new products, and they will try the Fish Sandwich. And if it does well, it'll be incorporated into the menu. If they can be successful in that, we'll see more non-chicken products by them.

On the other hand, another franchise called Manhattan Fish Market is slowly being called MFM for short. Still, the long words appear on their logo. I wonder if in the future they will hide the word "Fish" and serve other products. Don't go into the battle of "Since it's FISH, why are they serving prawns, squids and crabs?!?". We don't need to go too detailed on english words now do we?