Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken has launched an advertising campaign built on a single premise: hand a
doubter a piece of chicken and let them eat their famous last words.

The work

Plein Air Agency, the brand’s agency of record, developed the campaign. It runs across social media
and streaming TV throughout the chain’s footprint — more than 130 restaurants across 12 US states
and Canada. Dan Sokolik, VP of Marketing, and Plein Air co-CEO Paul McEnany both spoke to the shift
in tone.

Why doubt is a good premise for a regional chain

The strategy is sharper than the humour suggests. A national brand advertises to build
familiarity; a strong regional brand has the opposite problem — it is beloved where it operates and
unknown a state away. Scepticism, not indifference, is the honest starting position for someone
who has never heard of you but has strong opinions about fried chicken.

Building the creative around that scepticism turns a weakness into a structure. It gives every
execution the same shape — doubt, then a bite, then a reversal — which is what lets a campaign run
across formats without needing a new idea each time. It also flatters existing customers, who get
to be the ones who already knew.

Where it sits in the brand’s arc

This is the second phase of a longer repositioning. Lee’s reworked its visual identity in 2023 and
introduced a new restaurant prototype the same year. Identity work changes what a brand looks like;
it does not, on its own, give it something to say. The 2025 campaign is the part that does, which
is why the two are worth reading together rather than as separate announcements.

Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken was founded in Lima, Ohio, and has been operating for close to 60 years.

Sources

Covered by QSR Magazine,
RestaurantNews.com,
QSRweb
and Gorilla Dash.