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Chick-Fil-A launches holiday campaign, increases digital spend significantly

Fast food chain Chick-Fil-A (CFA) recently announced anew holiday campaign (thank goodness for those limited-time peppermint milkshakes, am I right?). The creative will debut today (November 9), complete with an animated short film and an interactive web experience designed to inspire viewers to embrace life's unexpected and imperfect moments. It will continue running on TV and in movie theaters through Christmas Eve.

According to iSpot, CFA has allocated roughly $57m toward national TV commercials YTD, down 13% from the roughly $65.4m it allocated within the same 2020 timeframe. The company ended up allocating roughly $84.4m toward this channel last year, up 26% from the roughly $66.8m it allocated in 2019. CFA's 2021 commercials have largely targeted male sports fans watching shows such as NFL Football, College Football, NBA Basketball, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

So far this year, Pathmatics reports the chain has spent approximately $31.5m on digital ads, already 27% more than the approximately $24.8m it spent in all of 2020. CFA's estimated full-year 2020 spend ($24.8m) reached more than double that of $11.2m in 2019. The company has earned around 3.4b digital impressions YTD via Facebook (51%), Instagram (40%) and YouTube (9%) ads.

Remember, this new campaign encourages people to embrace what's wonderful in unlikely places; tugging at viewers' heartstrings like this is often especially successful among Gen-Z and millennials, who tend to connect more than other generations with emotional advertising. CFA's TV spend drop and digital spend increase also suggest a relatively young target demographic. To reach this audience, the company may expand into OTT and/or podcast spaces in the coming months. Its TV commercials especially target men. Per Kantar data, CFA also invests in radio, OOH and local broadcast. Sellers able to offer relevant ad space should contact soon to do so.

Agency & martech readers - I see no glaring signs of upcoming reviews here, but you may be able to secure project-based work down the road. To the best of my knowledge, CFA has an in-house creative team, and its roster includes Moxie GA (social).