It is not a secret (recipe or otherwise) that Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC to more easily (through truncation in branding) communicate an expanded menu and a healthier approach to fast food. We’ve even wondered whether KFC eventually may bow to an image of the Colonel with no words, as a non-verbal logo, as so many others have done with non-verbal branding.
Last year, it was reported in the U.K. that KFC tossed out its more than fifty year old (likely famous) Finger Lickin’ Good slogan in favor of a blander, but healthier version: So good. So, I never noticed that slogan in the U.S. market, but now I see through USPTO records that sogood (yes, all lower case type) was rolled out around 2010 in the U.S., and the Today Tastes So Good slogan followed just last year.
This most recent KFC logo, which is the subject of a federal intent-to-use trademark application, has now been approved by the USPTO, with a Notice of Allowance issuing just last week, so perhaps we’ll start to see it rolled out into the U.S. marketplace in the near future.
Based on trademark filings at the USPTO, it appears that a couple of very old It’s Finger Lickin’ Good registrations from the 1960s expired in the 2005-06 time period for failure to renew them (here and here), but then new registrations were obtained in 2007 for It’s Finger Lickin’ Good (here and here).
What do you think of the FLG truncation? Is this a step toward dropping the slogan altogether here in the U.S.? Will consumers bond to it as they did for decades with Finger Lickin’ Good, or will they fill in the blanks in other ways, especially when they aren’t feeling the love of the brand, perhaps something like: Feelin’ Less Genuine?