Bowl game and Chick-fil-A have helped each other

In addition, there will be 4,500 cows dropped pregame from the roof of the Georgia Dome. Over 1,000 handwritten, encouraging notes from fans in the Chick-fil-A FanFest will be sent by the USO and distributed to troops overseas.

Steve Robinson and his wife Dianne were at the 1993 Peach Bowl played between Clemson and Kentucky.

Looking around Georgia Dome, Robinson remembers asking why the building wasn’t full with a team from the ACC playing one from the SEC.

Dianne looked at her husband, a director of marketing for Chick-fil-A, and asked, “Why doesn’t Chick-fil-A help?”

From those two questions emerged a relationship that has powered the Chick-fil-A Bowl into the rotation of six games that, beginning next year, will help decide college football’s national champion. In the process, Chick-fil-A brand emerged as a national power in the fast-food industry.

“We were starting to get a large enough footprint that we needed to create a brand beyond the stores, to support not only the stores, but the growth of the Chick-fil-A brand,” Robinson said.

After two years of discussions that led to negotiations, Chick-fil-A joined as the bowl’s first title sponsor on a three-year deal in 1996. The game was known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl but was later changed to just the Chick-fil-A Bowl in 2006.

Robinson said it seemed like a perfect fit. Chick-fil-A’s footprint was mostly within the same geographic footprint as the SEC and the ACC, the two conferences contractually bound to play in the game.

Robinson said Chick-fil-A wanted to use the bowl to help people experience what it would be like to patronize one of their restaurants. Customer service was reinforced at all of the bowl’s ancillary events. The players for both teams are given Chick-fil-A food at most meals. Some guests are given Chick-fil-A merchandise at events leading up to the game.

The ideas worked and the contract was continually renewed as the Chick-fil-A corporation and its number of franchisees grew.

Chick-fil-A’s sales were around $800 million a year at 826 restaurants in 1998. The chain recently surpassed $4.6 billion in sales at 1,683 restaurants last year and has topped $5 billion at 1,775 locations this year.

Ken Bernhardt, marketing consultant and recently retired GSU marketing professor, said securing the sponsorship of the bowl game helped Chick-fil-A grow because it was able to connect with something that consumers feel passionate about: their universities. Bernhardt has been a consultant with Chick-fil-A for 33 years and was included in the discussions when the company was first considering the game.

“When you look at the affinity people have for the college they went to and given the location of the majority of Chick-fil-A restaurants, that’s the SEC and ACC right smack in that territory,” he said.

Chick-fil-A has been able to take advantage of what in marketing is known as the halo effect: Consumers tend to support organizations that support the things the people believe in.

“The fan base is perfect for us,” Robinson said. “We do well with college graduates and fans as customers. It was a great fit for Chick-fil-A. We’ve grown with the game.”

Robinson said Chick-fil-A has no plans to expand into other sports or sports platforms for several reasons, including the financial commitment necessary to support something else.

Robinson and Chick-fil-A are in the midst of negotiations with ESPN for the naming rights for the playoff game as well as other partnerships. Robinson declined to say how much more of a financial commitment will be necessary for the playoff game, other than to say it will be significant. Chick-fil-A’s current commitment to the bowl game is already in the multi-millions of dollars.

Robinson said he is confident the two sides will maintain the relationship and he thinks an agreement will be reached by spring.

“College football is still a platform to help us grow the visibility of Chick-fil-A,” he said.