Popeye’s Marketing Team Knew What They Were Doing

Written By: Christina Lee

As of November 3rd, also known as National Sandwich Day, I started thinking to myself, “Did Popeyes run out of their chicken sandwich or was it a good marketing tactic?” There wasn’t anything special about the sandwich as it consisted of a brioche bun, fried chicken, mayonnaise, and pickles. Looking back, it was a little crazy how many people acutely waiting for long lines for it and the length that people went to purchase one when the sandwich did eventually sell out.

The famous Popeye’s chicken sandwich first came out around August and I did not think much about it as there are a lot of other fast-food chains that also have a variety of chicken sandwiches on their menu. I never realized the popularity that Popeyes’s chicken sandwich received until I started seeing social media posts and videos surrounding the food item. The sandwich itself did not look as appealing as I thought it would be, but I still thought it myself—I need to try it as well.

I’ve heard about how long people were waiting in lines and how certain locations were selling out already but did not realize how much people were willing to line up for just a sandwich.

The chicken sandwich was alright, but what drew my attention was three days after I had the sandwich - it sold out. How can a fast-food chain that sells fried chicken run out of fried chicken? It couldn’t be possible unless it was their marketing plan in the first place.

Popeyes supplied the demand for chicken sandwiches, knew how well their product was selling and cut the demand so their customers would demand it more. It’s a genius idea. Whether it was a genuine shortage of chicken from Popeye’s or they purposely sold out and made people wait for the next comeback, the idea that people were not able to have it anymore was a great marketing tactic. This created more demand from the customers that Popeyes was not expecting.

In the end, the wait for the sandwich made their customers want it even more thus prompting those that did receive the sandwich to sell it online on eBay and other online stores.

Days became months and the customers were still waiting for the announcement that the chicken sandwich has finally come back. Popeyes announced that their customers can sign up on their notification emails to receive early notice of when it’s supposed to return. They even offered BYOB (Bring You Own Buns), where customers can bring their bread and purchase their chicken tenders, which is the same as the one in the sandwich, to create their own.

In the end, the Popeyes chicken hype was real, and the marketing that they used to tease their customers made them want the simple sandwich even more.