When it comes to marketing, nobody comes close to Chick-fil-A and its beloved bovines.

This Friday will be a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Imagine a black-and-white spotted Holstein cow holding a homemade sandwich board that reads: “Dress Like Me, Git Free Chikin.”

It’s a simple, but effective promotion of Chick-fil-A’s Cow Appreciation Day on Friday. If you are not too chicken to dress like a cow, you’ll get a free meal at the Chick-fil-A restaurant at 2127 S. Range Line Road and at the restaurant in the food court at Northpark Mall.

This is the fourth year for the event, which caused udder insanity last year. A restaurant in North Carolina hosted a herd of 350 spotted-cow customers from summer camps, day cares and preschools. A group of college students set out on a cattle drive from Tennessee to Georgia, visiting as many as 30 Chick-fil-A restaurants in a single day.

For the past 13 years, the renegade “Eat Mor Chikin” cows have entertained consumers with their desperate, self-preserving antics in an effort to convert beef lovers into chicken eaters. The message has worked. The chain’s sales have quintupled since the cow’s first full year as unofficial icons for the brand, from $502 million in 1995 to more than $2.64 billion in 2007. That’s a lot of chicken.

In 2007, the cows were recognized as one of America’s most popular advertising icons in a public vote sponsored by Advertising Week and became the newest members of the Madison Avenue Advertising “Walk of Fame.”

The competition has noticed. You can get Southern-style, fried-chicken sandwiches and breakfast biscuits now at that place with the golden arches. They’re OK, but it’s just not the same without the cows.

This year, the Chick-fil-A inside Northpark Mall is planning something different for Cow Appreciation Day. You’ll get a free meal if you dress like a cow, but you can get a coupon for a free chicken-salad sandwich, too.

Customers may not know that in March, Chick-fil-A released new menu items that offered a healthier alternative to customers. New menu items like a grilled-chicken wrap, chicken strips and a chicken-salad sandwich were added. To bolster community awareness, Chick-fil-A in the mall is hosting the first-ever Chick-fil-A Fitness Walk in conjunction with Cow Appreciation Day.

Participants will receive a registration card, after completing a walk through the mall where they will see several “nutritional nuggets” along a “trail of trivia.” A completed card will be rewarded with a coupon for a chicken-salad sandwich.

Northpark Stars Kids Club will be hosting an event as well. Kids may participate in the walk, as well as enjoy a photo opportunity with a Chick-fil-A cow, dance the chicken dance and participate in a cow toss. They can win free food from a prize wheel.

The Kids Club event will be at 11 a.m. The fitness walk begins a half hour later. Cow Appreciation Day will be observed from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.

Spillover

As predicted, the opening of the Downstream Casino 10 minutes west of Joplin on Interstate 44 has had a positive influence on South Range Line’s hotel district.

A quick survey on Monday showed that the hotels picked up reservations for guests who planned to visit the casino. One hotel manager said the number of “walk-ins” — people who have not made a reservation in advance — were up significantly Saturday night.