Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Launch

Popeyes: The Chicken Sandwich That Broke Canada

Client Category
QSR · Food & Beverage · Restaurant · Challenger Brand

Services Provided
Brand Strategy · Campaign Creative · Social Strategy · Influencer Marketing · PR & Earned Media · OOH Creative · Experiential · Digital & TV Creative · Media Planning & Buying · Web (TheList.ca)

Business Challenge

Popeyes had spent years building cultural momentum in Canada — but one item had the power to change everything.

The Chicken Sandwich was already a phenomenon in the U.S., causing sellouts, media frenzies, and cultural hysteria. But in Canada, the risk was real:
How do you launch the most hyped sandwich in QSR history without disappointing a nation waiting to pounce on failure?

Canada’s food culture was skeptical.
Competitors were circling.
And expectations were astronomical.

This launch couldn’t just match the U.S. moment.
It needed to create its own.

Strategic Insight

The biggest enemy of a hyped launch isn’t competition — it’s impatience.

Canadian consumers weren’t waiting quietly. They were demanding, joking, complaining, obsessing — and Popeyes had an opportunity to channel that energy instead of defending against it.

Our insight:
Turn anticipation into participation.

Instead of releasing a sandwich, we would release a movement — built around the universal truth that Canadians love being “first,” love being “in,” and love being part of a national moment.

The strategy became:
Make Canadians work for the sandwich — but make it fun.

Creative Solution

We built a three-phase national launch platform that made the Chicken Sandwich the most anticipated menu item in Canada.

1) The Pre-Arrival Phase — “Join The List”

A digital waiting room for the nation.

TheList.ca became a national portal where fans could preregister to “be first” to try the sandwich.
The internet took the bait.

• 4M+ impressions
• 39K engagements
• 11K+ early visits
  

Mainstream media amplified the story organically. Anticipation turned into national pressure.

2) The Arrival — A Countdown Canada Couldn’t Ignore

We didn’t just launch the sandwich. We launched a moment.

• A massive Yonge–Dundas Square countdown
• PR infiltration across broadcast, print, and online
• Influencers and fan reaction content seeded strategically
• A TV spot made entirely from real Canadian reactions

Results were instant:

• #2 trending on Twitter in Canada
• 252 broadcast clips
• 262 online articles
• 13 print features
  

It became impossible not to talk about Popeyes.

3) The Sustain Phase — Turning Hype Into Habit

While other QSR launches fade after week one, we fuelled momentum.

Using meme-able content, influencer amplification, and sustained PR, we kept Canada hungry.

The results were historic:

• 184M+ impressions
• 1.33M engagements
  

And most importantly…

• 760,000 sandwiches sold in Week 1 (target was 400,000)
• System-wide sales doubled again after the first year
• Quickly became the #1 menu item nationally and in delivery
• Drove above-plan AUV growth across the country
  

The sandwich didn’t just launch — it detonated.

Results

📈 4M+ Pre-launch impressions
🔥 #2 trending topic in Canada
📣 252 broadcast clips, 262 online articles, 13 print features
🎉 760K sandwiches sold in Week 1 (vs. 400K target)
🚀 Sales doubled again after the first year
🏆 Became the top-performing menu item in-store and in delivery
📈 Drove above-plan AUVs across the entire system
⭐ 184M+ impressions during sustain phase
💬 1.33M engagements

Popeyes didn’t just join the chicken sandwich wars —
it won the country.

Category Takeaway

When anticipation becomes the strategy, demand becomes the outcome.

Popeyes proved that the most powerful QSR launches aren’t built on promos or price points — they’re built on cultural inevitability.

By turning hype into a national event, Popeyes claimed the crown not just in QSR, but in Canadian pop culture.

That’s how heroes become kings.