NEW YORK — Kentucky Fried Chicken is channeling Colonel Sanders to revive its business.

For years, the chain’s sales slumped as rivals like Chick-fil-A thrived. But parent company Yum Brands Inc., which also owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, says KFC’s sales at established locations are now up for six straight quarters.

The company attributes the improvements in part to its ad campaign, featuring comedians Darrell Hammond and Norm Macdonald playing its bespectacled founder.

Kevin Hochman, KFC’s chief U.S. marketing officer, said its data says three out of five millennials have never tried KFC and are distrustful of advertising.

“It makes it very difficult to sell in conventional ways that might have worked for my generation or my parents’ generation,” he said.

So, the company has brought back the consummate chicken salesman. Many millennials don’t know who the Colonel was or what values he stood for, Mr. Hochman said.

“We’ve got to make sure our original recipe is as good as it was 30 years ago when the colonel was alive,” he said. “We’ve gone through what we call re-Colonelization.”

By that, he explained, “The colonel wanted no bald spots on his chicken. When you’re hand breading chicken, and you’re doing a lot fast, you could have a bald spot. So you’ve got to make sure you inspect each piece. And if there’s extra breading you’ve got to tap it together.”

The menu, Mr. Hochman said, needs to be adjusted. Seventy percent of the overall public market, he said, is chicken strips, nuggets, and sandwiches, and KFC isn’t strong in those niches.

First Published February 18, 2016, 5:00 a.m.