No one could be more excited about Popeye's entry into the Twin Cities market than Dick Lynch, the chief marketing officer for the fast-growing food chain.
For Lynch, 58, Minneapolis is his adopted professional-life home after spending 20 years at the Minneapolis ad agency Campbell Mithun, where his client roster ranged from Betty Crocker to Toro and Kmart with Martha Stewart.
"I was head of strategic development and account planning. My job was to find out what made a brand distinctive and why people should care," Lynch said during a recent interview at the most recently opened Popeye's in St. Paul. "That drives all communications behind a brand."
As Lynch approached his fifth anniversary as CMO for the rebranded Popeye's, he spoke with the Star Tribune about the competition in the fast-food sector to stay relevant.
Q: How does Popeye's distinguish itself in the fast-food category?
A: What makes Popeye's distinct is its Louisiana heritage. That was true of the brand all along. I didn't make that up. I turned the switch on. This is what we are all about. This is about Louisiana. So we became the Louisiana Kitchen with a more-rich color scheme that was more authentic to Louisiana. The design arm of the Smithsonian called Popeye's one of the 15 best brand refreshes of the last 15 years. The brand remains Popeye's, but we describe it as a Louisiana Kitchen now, not a restaurant for chicken and biscuits.
Q: How did Popeye's change when it "refreshed" the brand?
A: We develop new products. We came up with "Bonafide" fried chicken. We used Zatarain's breading. We added Cajun gravy and red beans and rice to the menu. You'll find none of this in a typical fast-food restaurant.