Comments on: How to name a chicken sandwich: thoughts for branders (1)

By: Dennis Van Staalduinen

Dennis Van Staalduinen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:32:20 +0000

An excellent observation Tanya.

You’re right, it would scan better as “THE” Big Fresh or if they visually paired “Big Crunch” with “Big Fresh”. The name is meant to operate as both a descriptor (the two adjectives) and a name (i.e. The Big Fresh), so if you’re not seeing that, that’s important.

In this case I named the product, but wasn’t part of the design process, so I’ll pass your thoughts on to KFC.

By: Tanya

Tanya — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:09:14 +0000

Coincidentally I was at a KFC today (before I read this article) and I noticed their banner for this new sandwich.

However, I must admit that my first impression was something along the lines of “Why doesn’t this sandwich even have a name?”

Since big and fresh are just regular adjectives and they are not depicted on the banner as a coherent name I assumed they were just describing the sandwich, not the actual name of it.

I think the problem is that the sign reads like “Here’s a big fresh sandwich”, not “Here’s the new Big Fresh!”

By: Latitude: the official blog of Atlas Advertising » Blog Archive » How to Name a Chicken Sandwich

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:27:33 +0000

[...] out this interesting article on branding KFC’s new chicken [...]

By: MrWordsWorth

MrWordsWorth — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:44:46 +0000

I don’t know if they have. I don’t even know if the grilled has landed. We do the Crunch, but now that I know you are associated with it to a degree, I’ll try the Big Fresh. Hope it’s juicy…

By: Dennis Van Staalduinen

Dennis Van Staalduinen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:44:08 +0000

Thanks. Occasionally, my approach gets criticized as being less exciting – since often, I find out that what customers actually want is “unbranding” or a relatively boring descriptive name. “Canada Business” – my recommendation for one of the three main portals off the Canada.gc.ca web page – was one such name. But while the old name “Business Gateway” was more daring (or at least as much as a federal government site can be), people confused it with a dozen other sites, and Canadians overwhelmingly look to government for simple, clear directional names.

“Big Fresh Chicken Sandwich” (the full name as recommended) had just the right blend of descriptivenes with a bit of character, and paired nicely with “Big Crunch” – which is sold at the same price point.

Oh, and I’ve eaten two of these sandwiches since Friday. They’re pretty solid. You have a KFC near you? I’d be interested to know if they’ve arrived in Nova Scotia yet.

By: MrWordsWorth

MrWordsWorth — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:52:24 +0000

I think your approach is the best way to go. The more variables you suss out, and the more customer-centric they are, the greater the potential for the name to have resonance, to mean something. Big Fresh does two things off the bat: 1) I’m getting something substantial to sate my hunger. 2) I’m getting something fresh, so I have a positive feeling about that. Though I have to admit, Big Fresh does have rather the same salacious (or phallic) feel to it that a Big Mac or Whopper would (what I lovingly call f0rn). Interested in seeing the next installments.