Summary: Chick-fil-A builds a ‘Time Shop’ to encourage us to spend more time with friends and family during the holidays. The ad campaign uses the Hero’s Journey framework by Campbell (2003) to transport us into a world where we get plenty of time for the winter activities we wish to do with our close ones. Here I look at the elements of the framework and how they relate to the campaign.
Background
| Campaign: | The Time Shop by Chick-fil-A |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Slogan: | Give the gift of time |
| Goal: | Help people find time for each other |
| Ad format: | Animated story displaying Sam and her family |
| Company ID: | Fast-food chain restaurants |
| Country: | USA |
The holiday campaign by Chick-fil-A is completely different from what their core business activities are. They want their brand to be associated with the memories people made through sending a gift card and spending time together (QSR, 2019).
According to a survey conducted by the company (QSR, 2019), 73% of participants claimed they wanted more time together with close ones and friends. In addition, “93% said that quality time is the most important factor to create memories during the holidays” (QSR, 2019) surpassing the food, drinks, party, gifts, or decorations.
The video ad for the campaign of the Time Shop was running throughout November and December 2019. The story is about the family of Sam, a young girl, who rediscover the great joy of spending time with her family and her visit to the extraordinary world of the Time Shop.
“‘Together Time’ is all about setting aside time for making memories and is a phrase you’ll hear in our animated film. Years from now we might not remember what gifts we received, but we will remember how it felt to be with the people we love.”
Ashley Callahan, Chick-fil-A senior marketing director (QSR,2019)
The idea of the campaign is that after viewing the ad, people will be able to create a custom gift card on the company’s website and send it to loved ones, free of charge, within the USA. During the following year, the story of Sam continues in another video ad that seeks to inspire hope, courage, and generosity.
In the survey, it was also known that people would rather spend less time on social media and work to spend more quality time (QSR, 2019).
The company has over 2,500 fast-food restaurants across the USA. Their landmark meal is the chicken sandwich. In comparison to other fast-food chain restaurants like McDonald’s and Subway, the chain honours its traditions like being closed on Sundays, being seen as a family business, and being mission-driven (Taylor, 2019).
Even though Chick-fil-A food is popular, the company has a long history of being criticized for donating to anti-LGBTQ groups. Though, in 2019, the CEO announced that the company will stop donating to anti-groups and focus on education, fighting homelessness, and other charities (Levine, 2020).
Analysis
As the company encourages the family environment, it is not a surprise to see that they created an ad for their campaign where the main characters are the young girl, Sam, her brother, and her parents.
“Since first opening its doors, Chick-fil-A has valued quality time together. From building relationships with guests to encouraging shared moments between friends and families, togetherness has been at the core of our business. And this holiday season, we wanted to extend that spirit of “Together Time” even further. “
Megan Wissinger (2019)
The animated video is the first one ever for the company created to support the campaign of giving time to family and friends. The slogan for the campaign was defined as ‘Together Time’, a term that inspires affection.
The goal of the campaign is to ‘help people find time for each other during the Christmas holidays as there are so many distractions and distractions competing for our time’ (Wissinger, 2019).
And the main hero, Sam, is the face of the animated film that seeks to inspire people to spend time together (Wissinger, 2019).
To analyze this video ad, I look at the different elements of the storytelling through Joseph Campbell’s hero journey framework (2003) and the elements of narrative transportation involving the characters, plot, and authenticity of the story. The hero’s journey method used in combination with the format of animation also reinforces the effect of narrative transportation.
1. The Ordinary World
The Ordinary World allows us to get to know the Hero and identify with him before the journey begins. Since the audience usually experiences the Journey through the Hero’s eyes, we must be able to relate to him.
(Campbell, 2003)
Therefore, at the beginning of the ad, we first hear Sam’s voice and see her family home which opens the scene and puts the focus on her. One can also notice her excitement about the snowfall. Then, she turns to her family to ‘make a snowman’.
Since the video ad is targeted toward adults, in the opening scene, the audience can identify with their ‘inner child’ who perhaps may have been neglected in a similar way as a child by their own parents who did not have time to play with them. And perhaps the adults now realize that they have become the parents who don’t have time for their children in a similar fashion to Sam’s parents in the story.
Even, if the audience is not consciously aware of the neglect they may have experienced as children, the story can evoke feelings of sadness and encourage the viewer to make commitments with loved ones and spend time together.
2. The Call to Adventure
The Call to Adventure sets the story rolling by disrupting the comfort of the Hero’s Ordinary World, presenting a challenge or quest that must be undertaken.
(Campbell, 2003)
After the unsuccessful attempts of engaging her family in an activity, Sam is just about to go upstairs walking with her head down as a sign of disappointment. When she suddenly hears her grandpa’s old wooden clock open up to her. The cats in the story have the role of the Herald archetype that challenges Sam to follow them into the extraordinary world.
3. Refusal of the Call
A Hero Refuses the Journey because of fears and insecurities that have surfaced from the Call to Adventure. The Hero is not willing to make changes, preferring the safe haven of the Ordinary World.
(Campbell, 2003)
The refusal of the call can create a greater suspension and warn the audience of the dangers of the special world. In the story of Sam, she is initially surprised judging by her facial expression to see the clock door open and the cats. Though, she is also quite bold and adventurous and simply follows them.
4. Meeting the Mentor
The Hero Meets a Mentor to gain confidence, insight, advice, training, or magical gifts to overcome the initial fears and face the threshold of the adventure. A Hero may not wish to rush into a Special World blindly and, therefore, seeks the experience and wisdom of someone who has been there before.
(Campbell, 2003).
In this story, the kid follows the cats blindly to the special world. The mentor shows up at a later stage when Sam has crossed the threshold to the special world.
5. Crossing the Threshold
Crossing the Threshold signifies that the Hero has finally committed to the Journey.
(Campbell, 2003)
When entering the clock, the girl crosses the threshold. She accepts to enter the extraordinary world motivated by internal forces – to find happiness. The viewer can notice that she is in a different world by all the clocks around and the gate that leads to the Time Shop.
The Time Shop is also the online portal of the campaign where people can send a holiday card to share an activity with someone for free.
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
Having crossed the Threshold, the Hero faces Tests, encounters Allies, confronts Enemies, and learns the rules of the Special World.
(Campbell, 2003)
After accepting the call to adventure, Sam meets the old man who works in the Time Shop. He has the role of an ally and a mentor at the same time. The old man teaches Sam about the importance of time and gives her the kind of time that she needs the most.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
The Hero must make the preparations needed to Approach the Inmost Cave that leads to the Journey’s heart or central Ordeal (Campbell, 2003).
(Campbell, 2003)
This stage is missing from the story since Sam does not undertake any kind of ‘preparation’ or meet any enemies on her way to her great challenge – the Ordeal – where she needs to face her fears and insecurities.
8. The Ordeal
The Hero engages in the Ordeal, the central life-or-death crisis, during which he faces his greatest fear, confronts this most difficult challenge, and experiences “death”. His Journey teeters on the brink of failure.
(Campbell, 2003)
The stage is also missing since the girl does not experience a significant ordeal and does not need to fight or overcome a crisis to get the Reward.
9. Reward
The Hero has survived death, overcome his greatest fear, slain the dragon, or weathered the Crisis of the Heart, and now earns the Reward that he sought.
(Campbell, 2003)
Sam receives the holiday card from the old man for the activity that she seeks the most – to build a snowman with her family.
10. The Road Back
Like Crossing the Threshold, The Road Back, needs an event that will push the Hero through the Threshold, back into the Ordinary World.
(Campbell, 2003)
The mentor shows her the ‘Road Back’ to her world. Though, there is no significant event that Sam needs to overcome to go home.
11. The Resurrection
The Hero faces the Resurrection, his most dangerous meeting with death. The Resurrection may be a physical Ordeal or final showdown between Hero and Shadow; Other Allies may come to the last-minute rescue to lend assistance, but in the end, the Hero must rise to the sacrifice at hand.
(Campbell, 2003)
The resurrection phase is missing from the story.
12. Return with the Elixir
The Return with the Elixir is the final Reward earned on the Hero’s Journey. The true Hero returns with an Elixir to share with others or heal a wounded land.
(Campbell, 2003)
Sam goes home with the holiday card received from the mentor in the special world. She tells her family about her adventure in the special world and gives them the card. Then, the happy ending is followed by a scene of her family making a snowman together.
The story ends with a scene displaying the description of the card where the viewer understands that the old man gave her the gift that she wanted. Next, a call to action urges the viewer to get their holiday card at the online Time Shop created by Chick-fil-A.
Most of the stages from Campbell’s framework are present in the video ad. However, the storytelling can be even more engaging and inspiring by having events that challenge the girl on her way to getting the reward. Perhaps, the creators pick the most important scenes to create a clear message in a short ad of 2 minutes in length.
In addition, the narrative transportation occurs at the moment when the girl crosses the threshold to the special world. The viewer is entirely focused on the ad and what comes next for the girl to overcome. And then the most important element of the ad reveals – the Time Shop. A magical place where people can give and get more time to spend together.
The narrative transportation is experienced through a story that invites “story-receivers into the action it portrays and, as a result, makes them lose themselves in the story” (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014).
The effect of the narrative transportation is that the viewer is not capable of fully evaluating the argument. Narrative ads are judged by the story-receivers through empathy and mental imagery. Therefore, the viewer tries to understand the experience of Sam in the story. In mental imagery, the story-receiver remembers vivid images from the plot as they are experiencing the story themselves (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014).
The transportation effect is also confirmed by the digital marketing at Chick-fil-A.
“The little girl in the film is transported into a world that conveys the beauty and importance of quality time with loved ones; we are transporting guests here in person to an experience that will leave them with the same valuable reminder.“
Liz Griffith, Digital and Experiential Marketing Lead at Chick-fil-A
“The transformation that narrative transportation achieves is a persuasion of the story-receiver” (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). The most three important elements of each story for narrative transportation to take effect are the identifiable characters, imaginable plot, and verisimilitude (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). See my prototype test where I used those storytelling elements to test the concept of narrative persuasion.
- Identifiable characters
“Identifiable characters are invented personals that the story-receiver clearly pinpoints from the storyteller’s use of context-derived assumptions.” (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014)
Sam and her family are the main characters in the ad. And other middle-class families can identify with the context and the environment that the characters are experiencing. That makes the story relatable to families’ day-to-day lives.
- Imaginable plot
“The plot is defined as the temporal sequence of events that happen to the characters in a described setting. (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014) Moreover, there are some crucial story elements like the temporal embedding containing the cause and effect construction, that defines the direction of the story.” (van Laer, T., 2018)
The viewer can imagine themselves being in a situation where they do not have enough time to play with their children, and they seek to give more time to their family after watching the story. The plot starts with Sam being excited about the snowfall and her family not paying her attention. Then, the viewer can see she feels sad walking with her head down when the clock door opens. The cause of her further behaviour to explore the magical land is to find a way to convince her family to spend time together and be happy again.
- Verisimilitude
“Story realism can be experienced as fictionality or verisimilitude. Verisimilitude is experienced as the likelihood that story events may happen. Moreover, other studies have shown that nonfiction versus fiction manipulations do not affect narrative transportation.” (van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014).
Even though the plot has more of a fictional orientation, the viewer can experience the events from the ordinary world of the family and mentally imagine themselves doing an activity with close ones during the holidays in a similar way to Sam’s family. So, the verisimilitude of the story is present to some extent.
Conclusion
The animation from Chick-fil-A seems to be fun and engages the viewer’s attention. The story has a clear message: to spend more time with the family. And the goal of the campaign is to help people spend more time together by sending a card via the Time Shop platform created by the company.
Most of the stages of the Hero’s Journey are completed, however, the ad can be even more engaging if the challenges that Sam faces are expressed more clearly.
Narrative transportation is present to some degree. Though, I am not sure how strong the persuasion factor is experienced by the viewer since the story contains an event that resembles fiction when the girl goes to the special world. Even so, the special world is very similar to the ordinary world in terms of the graphical representation of the Time Shop and the old man who works there. Yet, the events before and after Sam’s visit to the Time Shop seem typical for the average family in the USA. So, the viewer can identify themselves with the characters.
The call to action at the end of the ad is a good initiative for the viewer to visit the online Time Shop and send a holiday card that encourages them to share an activity like building a snowman, building a gingerbread house, and riding a bike, or making grandma’s doughnuts.
References:
Campbell, J. (2003). The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. New World Library.
van Laer, T. (2018). Need for Narrative. Journal of Marketing Management, 484-496.
van Laer, T. v., Ruyter, K. D., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The Extended Transportation-Imagery Model: A Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents and Consequences of Consumers’ Narrative Transportation. Journal of Consumer Research, 797-817.
Levine, D. S. (2020, 29 November). Chick-Fil-A’s Festive Seasonal Menu Returns Ahead of Christmas Holiday. Retrieved from Pop Culture: https://popculture.com/trending/news/chick-fil-a-festive-seasonal-menu-returns-ahead-christmas-holiday/
QSR. (2019, November 22). Chick-fil-A Wants to Bring People Together for the Holidays. Retrieved from QSR: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/fast-food/chick-fil-wants-bring-people-together-holidays
Taylor, K. (2019, July 29). Chick-fil-A likely loses out on more than $1 billion in sales every year by closing on Sundays — and it’s a brilliant business strategy. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.nl/chick-fil-a-closes-on-sunday-why-2019-7?international=true&r=US
Wissinger, M. (2019, December 3). What is Together Time? The season’s most elusive gift. Retrieved from The Chicken Wire: https://thechickenwire.chick-fil-a.com/inside-chick-fil-a/what-is-together-time-the-seasons-most-elusive-gift