Catherine Hamilton

Since the opening of their first restaurant in 1946, Chick-fil-a has created an image unlike any other fast food chain. When Truett Cathy started the family-owned company many years ago, he realized the importance of establishing a restaurant identified for having outstanding customer relations.

Although most fast-food companies only attempt to quickly deliver food to their customers, Chick-fil-a goes beyond that. Chick-fil-a strives to be recognized for their superior customer service, good quality food, clean restaurants, and positive influence in the community.

Chick-fil-a is now the second largest quick-serve chicken restaurant chain in the country and they don’t plan on slowing down any time soon. Chick-fil-a is constantly adapting in order to provide their loyal customers with the meal choices that they desire as well as the highest quality food.

 “Regardless of our sales success, we must continue to upgrade our menu by looking for ways to stay ahead of our customers’ ever-changing appetites. Change in the quick-service industry is much like that of the fashion industry,” said Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-a vice president of brand development. “Customer needs are constantly fluctuating and we have to be intentional about staying ahead of and remaining relevant to those changes.”

 The company recently introduced a new menu. With the introduction of their biggest menu expansion ever, Chick-fil-a has already shown great success. As Americans become more and more obsessed with finding healthy alternatives to the foods that they love, restaurants now have the task of creating new menu items to accommodate the needs of their health-conscious customers.

Chick-fil-a has done just that. They have created an image of being the good quality and healthy choice among fast-food restaurants.

In addition to the food, the restaurant itself has a new look. They now serve this improved food in a more sophisticated environment, as part of an effort to enhance the customer experience. Chick-fil-a tries to make customers feel as if they are dining at a fine eatery, as opposed to a fast-food restaurant.

By creating a positive environment within the restaurant, the employees are even more willing and able to provide customers with outstanding customer service. Chick-fil-a prides themselves in their friendly and welcoming employees who enhance each customer’s experience.  

Chick-fil-a realizes the importance of customer relations and provides their customers with more than just healthy food and a good environment. Chick-fil-a is not only a successful restaurant, but a powerful image in the community.

“Over the past 40 years, Chick-fil-a has set out to be America’s best quick-service restaurant. We strive to live up to this mission by not only serving fresh and delicious food, but also promoting community connections through sponsorships, scholarships, programs for kids, and other outreach initiatives,” according to the Chick-fil-a Commitment. “We want to enrich the lives of everyone we touch: those who know us as customers, employees, families and friends as well as those who know us only by name or reputation.”

The main goal at Chick-fil-a is not only to serve quality food, but also to have a positive influence on the community. Creating and maintaining that positive and trustworthy image is key to the success Chick-fil-a.

While sitting in his Harvard dorm room in February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg had an idea to create a social networking site unlike anything offered at the time. The site would allow its members to communicate and stay in touch with friends.  In the last four and a half years, this college student’s idea turned into the second most trafficked site in the world, with over 90 million active users.

His website, the overwhelmingly popular, Facebook, could not have been so successful without the effective promotion strategies and media relations that go into the website.

Elliot Schrage, former Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for Google, is now the Vice President of Communications and Public Policy for Facebook. According to his biography on the website, “He is responsible for developing and coordinating key messages about products, corporate business and partnerships. He also oversees the company’s public policy strategy worldwide.”

Facebook is constantly evolving in order to provide its members with improved settings and applications. Members can share pictures and videos, chat with friends, create events, list items for sale in a marketplace, as well as many other things.

It’s obvious from the success of the website that they are effectively providing members with the applications that they desire. That’s because they make an effort to understand what members want from the website. They are constantly engaging in media relations, in order to make sure that members remain happy. When a new application is introduced, the creators communicate with members, constantly asking for feedback.

With 90 million members I’m sure it is close to impossible to accommodate for every member’s opinion. However, I think Facebook does a good job of taking into account the general consensus of likes and dislikes about the site. In the past, when many members have expressed discontent with an application in the site, improvements are made accordingly. Member satisfaction is very important to the Facebook staff, as they try to provide the most effective and user-friendly site possible.

Not only has Facebook established good public relations with their members, but they have also provided their members with a very effective social networking tool. Members have even been able to use Facebook as a method of communication with possible employers. At the same time, businesses are able to promote their company within Facebook. It is becoming increasingly popular tool for a variety of public relations efforts.  

With the 2008 presidential election quickly approaching, media relations are becoming more and more important in the political campaigns. As the candidates and their new running mates go head to head for the last two months prior to the election, every detail regarding the candidate’s personal lives are highly scrutinized in the national media.

Last week, John McCain chose his new running mate, Sarah Palin. Shortly after, it was announced that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. While this new information has nothing to do with Sarah Palin’s ability to perform in office, how much of an effect will this personal information regarding her daughter have on the McCain-Palin campaign?

Although I don’t believe that Palin should be judged for her family issues in the upcoming political race, the reality is that people are holding her accountable for the issue. She has now become a nationally recognized pubic figure; therefore, people are always watching and judging her. With such a close race, the other party, especially, is searching for faults in the competitor.

Some could look at this as a concrete example of Palin sticking to her Pro-life beliefs. While others could look this situation and argue that the Palin family does not hold the strong Christian beliefs that they claim. Any way that you look at it, Americans are critically evaluating the candidates and that is why good media relations are so crucial for success.

A candidate’s family or personal life has nothing to do with how well they will address issues such as terrorism, energy, or an unstable economy. Unfortunately, some citizens will make their decisions, not based on the candidate’s potential success in the White House, but rather, based on irrelevant information about the candidate’s personal life. 

In Sarah Palin’s situation, I think it would be beneficial to highlight other accomplishments, rather than talk about her family in her speeches. She should talk about her success as a governor, and not as much about her success as a mother.

She is very proud of the fact that her oldest son is in the military. She also emphasizes that her youngest son has Down syndrome and that she would be an advocate in the White House for addressing families with disabled children. While these are both great things, I think she should put less emphasis on her family in the campaign. I think it is part of the reason why people have made such a big deal about Bristol being pregnant.