The Chick-fil-A-First-Amendment-Marketing-Nuclear Weapon

8/8/2012

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nuggets in every order on a record business day that was originally proposed by the company to be Customer Appreciation Day, but turned into Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Yet it was not simply a statement on marriage that inspired support. It was the company's habitual practice of over-the-top commitment and dedication to customers that showed itself to be effusively reciprocated by its customers.

This business model and philosophy, informed by faith, is what inspired a marketing strategy that precipitated last week's "Chick-fil-A-First-Amendment-Marketing-Nuclear Weapon." No doubt, it will go down in business history as genius, but CFA customers know and appreciate that it has been many faithful years in the making.

It was the Baptist Press interview that spawned all the vehement opposition and inspired a tsunami of support in response to the vitriol perceived by loyal customers against Cathy's company. CFA customers are happy to pay full price, receive second-mile service, and are loyal enough to recommend Chick-fil-A to others. As the nation witnessed last Wednesday, they are also Raving Fans who will come out in droves to support the community business that has supported them with great sincerity for so long.

Years from now when students are in Marketing 101 classes they will be studying last Wednesday, in which an unorthodox, grassroots marketing strategy, combined with one transparent, uncontrived, sincere public statement of faith, created six months worth of business and enough social media coverage in a single day to flout months of traditional advertising.

Boom. Subsidiarity genius.

_____

Sonja Corbitt is a Catholic speaker, Scripture study author, and a contributing writer for Catholic Online. Visit pursuingthesummit.com to book Sonja for your next great event, or to order her talks or 10-week, DVD-driven Bible study Soul of the World, on the Scriptural "whys" of Catholic faith and practice.
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Chick-fil-A, Marketing 101, Sonja Corbitt, kiss-in, Dan Cathy, Truett Cathy, subsidiarity, Catholic moral teaching, economics, marketing, Sonja Corbitt

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1 - 9 of 9 Comments

Judy Claar
10 months ago
jean Catherine: Good Post! Noon Blessings...
JeanCatherine
10 months ago
This is about freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Yes, the Prince of Peace is about peace etc. but He would want us to stand up for freedom of religion peacefully as it has been done here. One man stood up for his religious beliefs even in the face of adversity. This isnt just political this is protecting our God given rights, yes, God given rights to have God given rights. We need to speak up in the public square or loose those God given rights. the Lord spoke of truth to Pilot and Pilot totally didnt understand what our Lord was talking about. The Lord was speaking of the Kingdom of God and its truth. We have no excuse we have to understand it. This was ok as far as Im concerned and someday maybe we wont be able to defend ourselves in the public square and maybe we will have to sacrifice our lives for the above but hopefully in our hearts our Lord will show us the Way in this regard. Right now I live the Lord's right now and if it means standing up for what I believe in then I hope I have the God given understanding to do so with the Lord's blessing. Im worried about what He will say when He asks me why I didnt speak up for His Truth. We have no excuse like Pilot the Truth has been revealed. Mr. Cathy God Bless you and your eithics and religious beliefs and God Bless our brothers and sisters who suffer from Same Sex Attraction. God Bless the man above who thought more of his principles and then his one aspect of his life---his sexuality. He though of others who would loose their jobs over who he is. His sexuality isnt his only asset and he realizes this. God Bless to all.
Alex
10 months ago
Karl,

Nuclear weapons actually are not intrinsically evil. Nor is Jesus' idea of peace exactly the same as the liberal's idea of peace. Jesus had multiple opportunities to rebuke the most deadly weapon of his day - the Roman soldier - yet he did no such thing, but instead commended them for their great faith and leadership.
rafaelmarie
10 months ago
ARE YOU A BUSINESS AND WANT TO MAKE BOO-COO CASH???

WELL, ADVERTISE A PRO-MARRIAGE SUPPORT DAY!

AND CHRISTENDOM WILL SUPPORT YOU WITH MILLIONS BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!

CONSIDER YOURSELVES INFORMED!!!
Rob
10 months ago
I see where the author is coming from. But I think this fast food chain was successful independent of this event. I wonder if what we really saw was the impact of polorization versus genius marketing or Christian values? There seems to be no end to what we will do when something is made an "us versus them" issue. I'm not sure where the author lives, but locally, this event was covered all day and days after so I'm not sure what she is referring to there and this website (which is media right?) has been covering it nonstop. But I it was nice to see those in the media who took something that could have stayed contained to the religious press, try to use it to destroy. Kinda of blew up in their face. So I'm really not sure what the message is here. But it is nice to see people do something that requires actions versus just words.
Tom McGuire
10 months ago
Marketing is a complicated business strategy. One event does not determine success of a strategy. Success of the business is yet to be determined. I agree our faith does influence our business decisions, but for the follower of Jesus it is dangerous to identify with any specific business strategy.
abey
10 months ago
It can be called as "To serve with love'.
KarlVDH
10 months ago
Brothers and Sisters... seriously? Now, THI is godly rhetoric? We're followers- supposedly- of the Prince of Peace, and we're supposedly people who value LIFE above all things, but we're likening a political and economic statement to the most violent, deadly WEAPON ever devised by man?
I think we need to get a little priority check here, folks. God forgive us.
Terri
10 months ago
Well, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I can see that the same sex stuff might have less to do with it than the media wants us to thing.

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