Dive Brief:

• Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rolled out a social media campaign that will share the login details for the brand's Netflix account with select online fans, according to news shared with Marketing Dive.
• The "Fried Chicken N Chill" push from the chain asks Twitter followers to post a photo of themselves enjoying Popeyes' food with the hashtag #ThatPasswordFromPopeyes.
• The first 1,000 posters will receive a message from the brand containing the username and password for its streaming account, as explained in an instructional video attached to the effort that features restaurant employees.

Dive Insight:

Popeyes looks to score social media engagement with a campaign that recognizes people are searching for distractions during a sustained period of self-isolation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The concept links back to the brand's positioning of "treating everyone like family," as families typically share a single streaming account.

The fast-food marketer has adopted a lighter tone in messaging around the selfie contest, riffing on the slang term of "Netflix and Chill" that describes two people — typically couples —​ spending a quiet night in streaming. A Tweet promoting the effort reads, "#SelfQuarantined at home and slowly losing your mind? We got you Popeyes Fam. With a streaming service password."

#SelfQuarantined at home and slowly losing your mind? We got you Popeyes Fam. With a streaming service password. Limitations apply. #ThatPasswordFromPopeyes pic.twitter.com/Gbce7rLffm

— Popeyes Chicken (@PopeyesChicken) March 22, 2020

Marketing around the novel coronavirus can be risky, as consumer anxieties are high and the human toll of the deadly virus continues to climb. Other companies have toyed with creative concepts that could be associated with the virus, but pulled back to prevent backlash. Beer maker Coors, for example, was set to debut an "Official Beer of 'Working' Remotely" spot earlier this month, but paused the launch to avoid being tone-deaf as more companies enforce remote work policies.

However, Popeyes has keyed into how many people stuck at home are relying on streaming services like Netflix to fill their time and take their minds off the pandemic. A surge in at-home viewing has created its own issues in areas like Europe, where YouTube and Netflix recently had to lower their video-streaming quality to alleviate stress on local broadband networks, as reported in Ars Technica.

Popeyes is also likely viewing the self-isolation period as an opportunity to promote delivery orders, which are climbing broadly in the restaurant category as dine-in locations shutter to prevent spreading the virus. The brand has previously leveraged social media as a powerful marketing tool that drives business. For the launch of a fried chicken sandwich last year, Popeyes put forth comparatively little paid advertising and instead leaned heavily on online communities like #BlackTwitter to turn the offering into a word-of-mouth success that sold out quickly.