When Publicity works!

It really is funny how all of those old sayings ring true, especially these days.  When it comes to the saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity", well I can honestly say that it is indeed a truism, especially when the PR is paired with social media.

We all have heard of the controversy created by Dan Cathy's remarks, and how Chick-fil-A has become a media firestorm with all major networks, websites, talk shows, etc blowing up the issue.  I have been a Chick-fil-A fan for years, and yes the company is a client of mine.  But I wanted to look at the after-affects of the remarks, and what it has done for the brand Chick-fil-A recently.

Yesterday was Chick-fil-A appreciation day, and supporters put together fan pages where people could sign up and state that they would come to a restaurant to show support for the company - over 500,000 people signed up!  All across Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere, the Chick-fil-A brand was prevalent all day yesterday, with pictures of long lines of raving fans coming out to support the company.  Locations literally sold out of food, with huge lines waiting to get in the door or through the drive-thru.

So, I ask who really is the "winner" in this debate?  It seems to me that the brand received a huge bump in recognition, as it was put all over the map in the past week.  The cash registers were in overdrive yesterday with the outpouring of support in their restaurants, and most importantly, Chick-fil-A could quantify their raving fans numerically with the fan pages, etc.

So, like it or not, the controversy created by publicizing a private company's belief system really shows how powerful the multimedia platforms of today are in creating a raving fan base and, most importantly generating revenue to a brand.

So I say, winner, winner, Chick-fil-A sandwich dinner!