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Brand Building with Kick

Giving wings to Joella’s Hot Chicken.

Background

The fast-casual dining landscape is fiercely competitive – but it’s especially tough when you’re trying to build brand awareness from scratch (you know, like Miss Joella makes her delicious chicken and fixins).

That said, our primary objective was an ambitious one: Help Joella’s Hot Chicken grow into the largest hot chicken brand in the country. To achieve this, we would provide comprehensive marketing and PR support for grand openings of new stores across the Southeast and Midwest.

INDUSTRIES

Food Service

 

SERVICES
Branding 

Creative 

Paid Media

Public Relations

Event Planning 

Activations

Strategic Approach

We began formulating a strategy with this two-part question: Who are we talking to – and what do they care about? This led to researching our target audience, millennial families, to better understand their needs, preferences and dining habits. Our team used this research to carve out a distinctive brand identity and position.

When launching a brand like Joella’s Hot Chicken, it’s important to foster a local connection. Recognizing the importance of local market engagement, we combined public relations, media placement, branding and creative advertising to succeed in the burgeoning hot chicken category.

Creative Solution

Our comprehensive strategy translated into a three-pronged solution: 

  1. Audience Targeting: Comprehensive research helped us identify the needs of millennial families and learn that they spend over half of their grocery budget on dining out. Therefore, we positioned Joella’s as a “better-for-you” dining experience with options for the whole family.

  2. Brand Evolution: We refined Joella’s existing brand to create a more distinct identity. To ensure everyone was using the same playbook during such rapid expansion, we created a brand book with clear brand standards. “Miss Joella” became the voice – a persona that embodied hospitality, attention to detail – and a spice for life. This character helped audiences understand that a visit to Joella’s is not about enduring the pain of flaming hot chicken (unless that’s what you want. If so, order the “Fire-In Da-Hole”), but about enjoying one another’s company, good conversation and great food.

  3. Grand Opening Blitz and Brand Awareness: We partnered with Joella’s to provide comprehensive support for the grand openings of ten new locations across the Midwest and Southeast in just six short months. This included a mix of in-market brand partnerships, media relations and event planning and activations resulting in a blitz of news coverage

Results

YOY sales

35%

Joella’s Named

“America’s Hottest Fast Casual Startup”

Joeella’s establishes itself as

“Largest Hot Chicken Restaurant Brand”