Chick-fil-A Cow Mascot with Logo. A Chick-fil-A cow stands in front of the red Chick-fil-A logo while holding a dripping paintbrush in its mouth.

Chick-Fil-A Cows

Can you take an icon and help it tell a better, more cohesive story?

The Chick-fil-A Cow has been an indelible icon of the Chick-fil-A brand for decades. When Son&Sons was approached to help the CFA team develop guidelines for the use of the Cow, we were honored and frankly, a little nervous. This hall-of-fame worthy brand asset had a storied history of successful and recognizable brand campaigns and activations, but we noticed that as the icon had aged the narrative behind it had not aged with it.

We jumped in feet first to help the Chick-fil-A team tell the story of the Cow in a way that kept the use of the asset clear, cohesive and powerful. We sifted through every way the Cow has shown up and acted over it’s 20+ year lifespan, and zeroed in on the actions and stories that were the most successful and brand building. From that, we created a cohesive Cow Guidelines document that made that story easier to tell in the years to come.

Painted Cow Billboard. A giant billboard showing a cow painting a humorous, misspelled message: “Hed Ovr Hoofs Fer Chikin.”
Cow Hoof Detail. A close-up of a cow’s hoof stepping next to a Chick-fil-A branded paper bag.
Kids in Cow-Themed Photo Booth. Three children pose in cow-themed costumes holding an “Eat Mor Chikin” sign against a wooden wall backdrop.
Chick-fil-A Handwriting font Guidelines. A diagram showing typographic rules for the Chick-fil-A cow handwriting style, including rotation, letter spacing, and baseline shifts.
Cick oil a Font Evolution Chart. A comparison of old and updated cow-style handwritten letters, showing cleaner, more legible refinements.

Moo Neue

One of the core assets of the Cow’s brand library was the cow scrawl typeface found on billboards across the country. The original scrawl had not been updated since it’s creation in 1995 and needed a less murder-y refresh. We created a simplified version of the type, adding additional character options for all letters and creating a fully functional typeface, Moo Neue, that would make applications 10x easier than before.

Cow Modes Overview. A chart showing different cow styles—live-action, physical, photographic, mascot, plush, and illustrative—organized into Activist, Ally, and Play modes.
Chick-fil-A Brand Guidelines Spread. Multiple pages outlining the Chick-fil-A cow identity system, brand story, messaging pillars, and design rules.

Let's Play!

The Cow has three modes of interaction, and the most whimsical of those is Play mode. In this mode, the Cow is able take on imaginative storytelling in an illustrative way that is engaging for Chick-fil-A’s youngest audiences. As a part of this project, Son&Sons was able to help imagine what kind of stories the Cow got to tell on the kid’s meal bags and how those stories could be told, creating an illustration style and narrative framework that would keep the bags enchanting for years to come.

Kids Meal Bag Illustrations. Illustrated Chick-fil-A kids’ meal bags featuring playful cartoon cows in colorful, activity-based scenes.

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