The first spot was created by the chain’s general ad agency, Kreuger Communications. It features a corporate ad icon, The Master of the El Pollo Loco Flame (think Antonio Banderas’ cousin with a grill fork and an apron) who explains to an earnest group of 30-somethings (two Caucasian males, a Caucasian female, and an African-American male) that preparing chicken the El Pollo way is a vast improvement over any other fast-food way of preparing chicken. The particular product pitched in this spot is a Chicken Verde Quesadilla that The Master invites the group to taste. With the initiates sampling and nodding happily over the concept of taste, the commercial fades out with the tag “Taste the Fire.”

The second spot, the effort of the chain’s Hispanic agency of record, cruz/kravetz:IDEAS, features an attractive young Hispanic couple digging into what looks like a great home-cooked chicken dinner (not a logo or paper bag in site to spoil the homey effect). Unexpectedly the wife turns to her husband and says, in Spanish, that she is emabarazada (pregnant) and that the baby is not his. Asked if he has nothing to say there is a great (pregnant?) pause during which he savors some dinner, finally responding “Que rico pollo” (“What tasty chicken”). After a cutaway and voiceover that identifies El Pollo Loco as the source of such remarkable chicken and a promotion for 12 legs and thighs for $8.99, the camera returns to the contented couple. The husband pleasantly informs his wife that her diamond is a fake. She chews happily and nods acceptingly as the tag “Una loca pasion”(“A crazy passion”) concludes the spot.

One can easily imagine some future scholar building a career on the cultural deconstruction of these two ads, especially as they appear for the same purpose at the same time and place in history. For the marketing department at El Pollo Loco, however, such attitudinal bifurcation is hardly an academic issue. It is, rather, a head-on confrontation of the realities of pitching a concept to an increasingly fractured mass market.

Although it is still a modestly sized chain, El Pollo Loco amply reflects the demographic realities of California and what might be the future of many more locales. According to figures provided by Mark Hardison, El Pollo Loco’s director of retail marketing, the chain’s current customer base is split evenly among non-Hispanic Caucasians and Hispanics (43 percent each) and includes sizable percentages of African-Americans and Asians. Spanish is the dominant language of 24 percent of El Pollo Loco’s customers.

While there are nuances and subtleties galore, including the impact of bilingualism and the emergence of a desire for bicultural participation, Hardison points out that the cultural predilections of Hispanic Americans, primarily of Mexican origin in El Pollo Loco’s case, must be served. For example: a family orientation breeds the need to promote family-sized meals; traditional culinary preferences range towards the darker cuts of meat; and a recognition that “pollo asado” is very traditional Mexican fare means presenting the product as an old favorite rather than as a culinary innovation. Furthermore, as wacky and risqué as the soap opera plot might seem to Anglos, it is a dramatic form that plays particularly well to Hispanic audiences.

Hardison and Julie Weeks, the latter El Pollo Loco’s corporate director of communications, point out that the English language commercial is more oriented towards freshness, health, taste, daypart, and brand image strategies. The Chicken Verde Quesadilla, for example, is a little spicier than most other items on the El Pollo Loco menu and is part of a series of menu additions, including burritos and salads, designed to build up lunch business. Hardison and Weeks both take pains to point out that El Pollo Loco’s appeal to a truly diverse range of ethnicities, income groups, household structures, needs occasions, and good old personal preferences mandate a lot of agility in the menu and the marketing plan.

What makes all this even more interesting is the fact that El Pollo Loco has announced plans to pursue aggressive expansion outside of its largely Southern Californian trade area. While it’s not too hard to imagine the transposition of the concept to heavily Hispanic Texas, it is not unfair to ask what the folks of New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and Durham, North Carolina, are going to make of this crazy bird. Might not citrus marinated chicken seem just a touch too exotic for mass appeal?

Not at all, claim Hardison and Weeks, although they admit prudent positioning is part of the brand building process. In its more distant locations, says Hardison, the chain will make a very conscious effort to avoid coming off as overly ethnic or avant-garde. Although it has never been tagged before, the chain’s logo will now bear the plainspoken legend “Fresh Mexican Chicken Grill.”

Hardison draws a comparison to the earliest days of the chain itself, when the original Mexican founders built their first L.A. unit back in 1980. The concept flew in the broader marketplace because everybody likes well-prepared chicken that tastes good. Describing chicken as the “universal protein” and excellent flavor as a common desire, Hardison hints that the trick in broad demographic marketing might be finding cultural similarities rather than differences after all.