Watch Popeyes' "$72 Wrap" commercial.

The Atlanta-based brand tossed off the “Chicken and Biscuits” part of its name earlier this year. Now Popeyes emphasizes its roots as a “Louisiana Kitchen,” adding a new topical tagline for its advertising: “Louisiana Fast.”

The new advertising campaign underscores what Chief Marketing Officer Dick Lynch calls the chain's “culinary chops.” The ads highlight that the signature chicken is marinated for 12 hours in the restaurant and is hand-battered. Those qualities are juxtaposed with Popeyes' fast-food nature.

“That is what we call the 'Popeyes Paradox,'” says Keith Guyett, vice president and account director at GSD&M Idea City, the Austin, Texas-based ad agency that won the Popeyes account earlier this year. “Wendy's spends all that time trying to make everything faster, and [Popeyes] spends all their time trying to make chicken.”

Lynch and CEO Cheryl Bachelder had re-evaluated Popeyes' image in the face of slow sales growth and an ever-increasing competitive market. They oversaw the development of a new brand proposition that includes seven new menu items scheduled for rollout between the end of summer and the end of 2008. They are priced at $1.49, designed to appeal to young customers like late-night snackers and those who eat at nontraditional meal times.

Three-quarters of Popeyes' business is from sales of traditional bone-in chicken, which does not appeal to the younger 18- to 24-year-old demographic it seeks. “These kids do not even know chicken has a bone,” jokes Guyett.

Before the new menu development, Popeyes did not have products that customers could eat with one hand. Adding boneless entrees and wraps and other dishes that could be eaten in the car was a way to grow that 25 percent of its business without alienating Popeyes' loyal core customer, both urban and suburban, ethnically diverse 25- to 49-year-olds, Lynch says.

GSD&M introduced Ed, a chef character Lynch calls a “Mad Truth Speaker.” In the TV ads, he approaches customers—who are not actors, but actual Popeyes diners—in the restaurants, explaining the chain's recipe for Louisiana chicken and pointing out what a good value the meals are in light of the time spent to make them. The spots were shot in a restaurant because the team felt that helps underscore the message that the chicken is prepared in-house.

The commercials began airing on national cable TV networks in late August. They are supplemented with freestanding inserts and other print couponing this year. Guyett says movie theater ads and other nontraditional media may be added in 2009.

The campaign is too new to have definitive results, but anecdotally Lynch says it is already working. Franchisees report seeing increased traffic at different times of the day such as before-lunch snacks. One Alabama franchisee is selling the new Delta Mini white-meat sandwich by the sackful, competing directly with a neighboring Krystal. Franchisees report seeing younger customers they have not noticed in the past.

Popeyes will not release the ad budget for the new Louisiana Fast campaign. Nielsen Monitor-Plus pegged the chain's entire 2007 media spending at $40 million.

In addition to the new commercials and menu, the campaign unveiled a new logo. It has some of the elements of the original, now with a Louisiana Kitchen seal.

“What we did not want to do is have the core user say, 'Who the heck is that?'” Lynch says. The logo is now on packaging and will be added to signage over time, starting with units being repaired from hurricane damage in Houston. The chain will have added between 115 and 130 new units by the end of 2008, all through franchising, and new units will sport the new signage.

This is not the first time 36-year-old Popeyes has tried to emphasize its Louisiana heritage. In the late 1990s, a “Louisiana Legends” menu featured dishes like étouffée and jambalaya.

“The jambalayas were good products, but you still needed to eat them with a knife and fork,” Lynch says. “What we are doing now is making it more contemporary.”