Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology

This paper critically analyzes the marketing strategy and marketing communication mix of KFC, with a focus on their chicken nuggets. It examines how KFC influences consumer purchasing decisions and recommends strategies for improving their marketing efforts. The paper also discusses the competitive landscape and the use of various promotional activities by KFC. Overall, it provides insights into consumer behavior and marketing psychology in the fast food industry.

Consumer Behavior and
Marketing Psychology
Student’s Name:
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Executive Summary
The primary purpose of the paper is to critically analyse the current marketing strategy and
marketing communication mix of KFC. Based on the product that is chicken nuggets, it has been
observed that the company uses an effective marketing strategy to promote its products within
the market. It can be seen that the marketing strategy of KFC influences consumers to make an
appropriate purchasing decision. On the other hand, based on the marketing communication mix,
KFC makes use of various promotional activities to educate the consumers and promote their
products. Based on the analysis, it has been recommended that the company must use effective
strategies along with TV campaigns and radio advertising to promote its products.

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Table of Contents
Selected Product.........................................................................................................................................3
Critical Analysis............................................................................................................................................3
Marketing Strategy..................................................................................................................................3
Marketing Communication Mix...............................................................................................................5
Strategic Recommendations........................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................10

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Selected Product
The chicken nuggets are the small pieces of chicken which are made from meat and then
battered, baked or deep-fried in vegetable oil. It is then shipped and sold at the different fast food
restaurants of different countries. The ingredients in this product are white boneless chicken, salt,
water and seasoning. Then it is prepared in vegetable oil along with citric acid as a preservative.
In KFC, to make the chicken nuggets, the tender chicken is coated with special and secret herbs
and spices and then cooked till it turns golden brown (KFC Australia | Home. 2019). The 6
pieces Chicken Nuggets is the most attractive item in the menu of chicken nuggets in KFC.
Another item is 4pk Snack Box with chicken nuggets and chips.
The menu and the prices of chicken nuggets in KFC Australia are as follows:
Chicken Nuggets - 6 pieces at $5.95
Chicken Nuggets - 6 pieces with Regular size Combo at $8.95
Chicken Nuggets - 6 pieces with Large size Combo at $11.45
Chicken Nuggets - 10 pieces at $8.95
Chicken Nuggets -10 pieces with Regular size Combo at $11.95
Chicken Nuggets - 10 pieces with Large size Combo at $14.45
On May 2018, KFC Australia had launched new Hot and Spicy Nuggets in its menu which the
customers got 24 pieces at $10 till June 2018. It was a request on the social networking sites
from the fans of KFC in Australia. It was available with choices of four dipping sauces made
from the sweet and sour barbecue, tomato, aioli and fresh chillies.
Critical Analysis
Marketing Strategy
KFC has significant market shares in the fast food market of Australia from the year 1968. The
fast-food restaurant chain has an extensive range of fast food products in the Australian market
and has a reputed brand name, brand image, customer loyalty and customer franchise. The
marketing strategy of KFC Australia has been planned in such a way that it gives importance to
the needs, wants and lifestyles of its consumers. The product is of high quality and fast food

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restaurant chain also make attempts to improve its pricing strategy and distribution channels as
well as gain the profits annually.
KFC Australia follows a differentiated marketing strategy as the consumers of KFC includes the
people from various age groups. This strategy helps the KFC Australia to provide value to its
consumers and capture high market shares. Most of the consumers the fast food restaurant are the
young adults those who can pay minimum money to eat a delicious meal. The products of KFC
Australia that are available in the Australian market aims to satisfy the taste buds of the
consumers with the finger licking delightful meal (Genoveva and Siam, 2017). Another factor
that helps the fast food restaurant is its constant initiatives of branding with below the line and
above the line tactics of marketing. Another marketing tactic utilised by KFC Australia is the
selection of distribution mediums through which it can promote its product to the general public
to maintain its brand name and image. The outlets of the fast food restaurant are located at all the
major shopping malls, cities, suburbs and city centres of Australia so that the cost of reaching the
market and acquiring the product is low.
KFC Australia faces stiff competition from Subway and McDonalds and several other local fast
food restaurants. Subway is yet to reach its full potential for distribution, but McDonalds and
KFC are continuously at loggerheads with one another in the market of Australia (Omer, 2018).
But the restaurant has firmly positioned in the minds of the customers and has successfully built
its brand image in the fast food market of Australia. It has effectively identified its competitive
advantage and worked on it to provide the best fast food product to its consumers. KFC is the
second largest fast food restaurant in Australia after McDonald's and has positioned itself as a
unique fast food brand and maintains the taste and quality of its products in Australia (Randhir et
al., 2016). The product of KFC Australia has already proved that its products are of high quality
and have an advantage over the products of other fast food restaurants available in the Australian
market (Hu, 2015).
KFC Australia utilizes the promotional strategy of reminder advertisements for informing its
customers about the product it offers in the Australian market for encouraging repeat purchases.
The fast food restaurant uses its slogan "finger-lickin' good" for promoting its product in the
Australian market. The “finger lickin’ good” is an ad which is utilized for reminding its
customers of their earlier experience with the product, and this encourages them to repeat

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purchasing the product (Kanagal, 2015). Other strategies of promotion used by the restaurant
consist of coupons, exhibition, food fair as well as entertainment for promoting its product and
increasing its sales. KFC Australia utilizes different social networking sites like LinkedIn, Flickr
and Facebook for promoting its product (Khan, Dongping and Wahab, 2016). It also uses various
TV advertisements, signboards, billboards, brochures, print publications, magazines and
newspaper to promote its product. In Australia, all KFC outlets offer its consumers with different
forms of incentives to buy its chicken nuggets.
Marketing Communication Mix
The marketing communication mix consists of various ways that help KFC to communicate with
its consumers. The common variables of the marketing communication mix followed by KFC are
as follows:
Advertising
Advertising is determined to be an efficient way used by KFC to promote its new products. It
derives the desire in their consumers to come and enjoy their meal. To promote its products,
KFC spends 2% out of its profits on the advertisement. Currently, the advertising media includes
internet, radio, television, billboards, pamphlets and newspapers. In order to stimulate the
demand for the products, KFC implements institutional advertising (Van Grinsven and Das,
2016). Whereas, KFC stimulates repeat purchases of its product by using Reminder
advertisements. Currently, KFC sponsors the Australian Cricket Team to promote its products. It
also makes use of Television campaigns that helps in increasing awareness among the consumers
related to their packages and products.
Personal Selling
Currently, in a personal communication channel, KFC has started sending SMS to the consumers
regarding the promotional campaign. The Marketing manager of KFC believes that personal
selling is a powerful tool to promote the products (Kim and Kim, 2018). To keep in contact with
the consumers, they also use mail. It is determined to be an efficient communication channel that
enables KFC for personal feedback and addressing.

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Sales Promotions
In order to enhance its sales, KFC utilizes the following tools such as entertainments, coupons,
exhibits and premium. KFC has adopted a promotional strategy to educate and inform the chosen
target market related to its products. In Australia, all KFC outlets offer its consumers with
different forms of incentives to buy its chicken. With the help of coupons, consumers can enjoy
the benefits of free add-ons and free meals (Randhir et al., 2016). Moreover, KFC offers its
customers with exciting offers and meal vouchers in their print ads. It also does its sales
promotion at the parties. It also has joint sales promotion with other organizations such as World
Call Internet Services, ARY Gold digital, Pepsi Cola, Value Meals, Philips and HP (Zhao and
Zhu, 2018). It can be seen that KFC is good at selling chicken, still, it must come up with other
varieties to attract the consumers.
Public Relations
To maintain public relations, KFC is devoted to the cause of helping impoverished children and
strongly believes in humanitarian issues. Based on the fundamental ingredient of perfection in
technology, the company ensures stable global standards of the quality base. In order to enhance
public relations and fulfil the needs of the consumers, it provides training to the management
team (Kwok and Yu, 2016).
Internet Marketing
KFC makes efficient use of social media to enhance its internet marketing. It promotes its
products in social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In and
YouTube. Currently, the brand uses Facebook features for communication and discussion. It uses
Twitter for sharing multimedia content easily. Instagram helps KFC to share promotional
discussions and content regarding the products (Lafferty, 2018). With the help of YouTube, it
engages its followers that help in promoting the brand and products.
Packaging
KFC also possess their packaging system, where they create their disposal packaging. The
company also does family packaging, where they utilize paper material instead of plastic
material to avoid environmental pollution and health hazards (Yang and Kang, 2018). The

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packaging contains more than 50% of varied tropical hardwood fiber obtained from Asia Pulp
and Paper.
Strategic Recommendations
 It is strongly recommended that KFC must open its restaurants that will help the company to
control quality, cleanliness, restaurants and services. The company must use Linked In to
involve users on topics such as sustainability, supply chain management, work life and food
quality. KFC must ensure to generate new products and advertise it on electronic media to
compensate with the customers need. Most of the consumers prefer organic food, thus KFC
must generate and promote organic food (Kim and Kim, 2019). Along with personal
communication channel, the company must also use non-personal communication channels
that help in carrying messages without personal feedback or contact. It will directly affect the
buyer’s decision of purchasing products. To enhance its sales promotion, the company must
make strategic alliances with the suppliers to gain an advantage over rivals within the market
 For capturing more market shares in the Australian fast food market, KFC can make
partnerships with local fast restaurants in Australia to offer more varieties in its product from
the perspectives of the local people. The promotional strategies of the fast-food restaurant
should be entirely focused on the youngsters but also for the adults. The 360-degree
marketing strategy can be used by KFC as it is a useful technique to reach more consumers in
future. The fast-food restaurant can understand the needs and wants of the people of
Australia while buying the chicken nuggets. In the current world, every individual wants the
high and best quality of food products for themselves as well as for their family. So, the fast
food restaurant has to recognize the purchasing intensity of the customers of KFC
 KFC can make more use of social networking sites as most of the people nowadays use
social networking sites for checking and getting information about the food products. Hence,
it can run campaigns on social media since it can help the fast food restaurant to examine the
fast food market of Australia with a broader reach and more efficiently. It can also attract
new customers those who have never eaten chicken nuggets before. Food events can also be
used to promote the product and attract more new customers. Through this event, the
customers can directly interact with the marketing executives of the fast food restaurant. The
events must be organized in crowded places of Australia so that more and more customers

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can know about the product and also the fast food restaurant can understand the attitudes of
the people of Australia towards the chicken nuggets of Australia
 KFC must use outdoor advertisement by using posters and banners. It is significant for the
company to create a good image within the market, and that would be possible by fulfilling
social responsibility. This will help KFC to enhance its public relations within the market. To
promote its product, the company must increase local advertisements on the radio as radio is
considered to be the universal medium and most of the people prefers listening to the radio.
To enhance the sales promotion, KFC must improve television campaigns that will help in
getting immediate and better results (Hanus, 2018). As a result, KFC must create a television
campaign based on the propaganda “Healthy Food for All” to educate the consumers
regarding the new trend of the products. In their advertising and internet marketing, they can
use the word Trend to educate the chosen target audience to promote their product

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References
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Hanus, G., 2018. The influence of the trends in consumers’ food behavior contributing to the
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