Is it “Waaaay Better Than Fast Food?” Your Thoughts Please.
January 28, 2008
UPDATE: You can view the new spots here.
We just got forwarded the release for Kirschbaum’s new campaign for Wendy’s. Apparently, Wendy’s is “waaaay” not just a little way, but “waaaay” better than fast food. That’s the new positioning. So, confused. Did we just re-enter the era of Clueless?
At Wendy’s National Convention in Orlando this week, the campaign was unveiled along with “mouth-watering photography” of Wendy’s premium quality food. So…. a burger? You mean, fast food?
They are kicking the current campaign, “That’s Right™” – with consumers donning red wigs as a symbol of enlightenment – to the curb because while it drove brand awareness (meaning within advertising circles), it has failed to drive dollars.
Chief Executive Officer and President Kerrii Anderson said, “To reinvigorate sales growth, we are executing our strategic plan, focusing on strengthening operations, launching new products and taking decisive action.”
“This evolution of our advertising approach is based on extensive consumer research over the last eight months, working in close collaboration with our agency partners and our franchise advertising committee,” Anderson said. “This effort has been driven by a clear understanding of our brand strategy and hallmarks of quality, freshness and honesty.”
Wow. Anderson sounds like she really means it. But, um… if Wendy’s food isn’t fast food, then what is it? It would make more sense if the new tagline was “Wendy’s - Fresh Food,” but even that is kinda bad. Regardless of our confusion (hell, maybe it’ll all shake out in the wash), the new campaign is coming out of Kirshenbaum bond + partners, and will apparently, leverage the “red-hair iconography, but does so in a way that is more genuine and true to the Wendy’s brand.”
Here’s how: Each television spot opens and closes with an animated version of the company’s familiar logo – the image of a red-headed, little girl. “Unlike most logos, Wendy does not remain static in the new advertising. She opens each ad in a simple, surprising way that highlights the menu item being promoted in the commercial,” said Bob Holtcamp, Wendy’s vice president of brand marketing.
So, kind of like the Burger King, King or that other red haired icon, McDonald.
“For example, she holds up a fishing rod to introduce our new hand-cut, North Pacific cod, fish sandwiches. In other ads, she’ll take a small bite out of a hamburger; clutch a small piggy bank to promote our Super Value Menu®; and do other things that open our ads with a wink and a smile,” said Bob.
Each ad ends with a voice saying, “It’s waaaay better than fast food. It’s Wendy’s.”
Do you think this has more to do with the Wendy family HATING the recent spots? Or, you know what… we’re going to open this one up to the floor. What do you guys think of the new tagline?
January 28, 2008 at 8:44 pm
advertising. It’s waaaaay better than spelling or grammar. U R Kewlz0rz!
January 28, 2008 at 8:49 pm
AndersOn says, “working in close collaboration with our agency partners and our FRANCHISE ADVERTISING COMMITTEE”
Get in a freakin’ car and drive at least 1,000 miles through the mid section of this country and check out many Wendy’s locations there are off of every other exit. THAT’s your Franchise Advertising Committee. That’s all you need to know.
Having witnessed a second tier regional fast food enterprise that consistently refused to recognize that it was really selling fast food instead of some ethereal “quick-but-better-than-fast-food-not-hamburgers-and-eatable-on-the-go-sort-of-maybe-semi-gourmet-sounding” product, my head is spinning with a weird sense of deja vu regarding fast food denial.
The animation open/close sounds awful, but we’ll set it soon enough, I guess.
pm
January 28, 2008 at 8:52 pm
[...] Agency Spy’s scoop had us laughing at Wendy’s new Ad Campaign. We just got forwarded the release for Kirschbaum’s new campaign for Wendy’s. Apparently, Wendy’s is “waaaay” not just a little way, but “waaaay” better than fast food. That’s the new positioning. So, confused. Did we just re-enter the era of Clueless? [...]
January 28, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I thought Saatchi had this account. Anything would be an improved over that piss poor excuse for an ad campaign. Who wants to eat a burger from a joint like this?
January 28, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Here’s what I think — I think a rogue agency should just launch their own campaign, solely on the interwebs, and see which one does better with audiences. Propaganda, or good, communicative advertising. It’s got to be better than the ‘trying waaaaaay too hard stuff’ already (and soon to be) out there.
And BTW, IMHO, any food vendor that dispenses change using a machine is fast food. No way around it.
January 28, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Did I miss something? I know everyone said that Saatchi was going to lose the Wendy’s account but I never saw any release about the account move. So it is official then KB+P runs the Wendys account? Sad that it didn’t get a review and other agencies didn’t have a chance to snag an account that would allow creative ideas.
January 29, 2008 at 2:03 am
all those who derided the red wig campaign (parker, I am looking at your old mug) can proudly say that they helped the twenty-eight second product shot return to the screen. you shall see burgers turning on a fiery grill, sizzling in flames, wrapped by smiling women in tight shirts.
listen, the red wig campaign may not have been to everyone’s taste. fine, I have no problem with that. but I don’t really care what the fat old restaurant owners think, just as much as I don’t care what the local dealers think about the commercials their car brands run. actually, dealers are a great comparison since they do quite often run local ads next to the national campaigns. they have wonderfully demonstrated their lack of taste.
I personally thought the red-wg campaign was mediocre. the one execution in which everyone jumped into the same hole like lemmings off a cliff intrigued me. it got laughs from the jocks in movie theaters, who I presume to be the main audience. I wondered where they would take it next time around. I wondered if this would be another buddy-buddy humor campaign like all the recent budweiser stuff has been (excluding the great ‘real american hero’ executions) or if they’d take it somewhere truly funny.
well, the parkers of the interwebs have won this round. too bad they will have gotten us a return to shit. you know that whoever cracks the whip on the new creative team will make damn sure there won’t be anything the least bit objectionable about it.
January 29, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Can we see the spot, please?
January 29, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Required Name… Wow, I am fucking flattered. Do you really believe I single handedly got Wendy’s to shit can the Red Wig campaign? That’s powerful stuff… Thank you… Thank you. And you’re right… I get payed thousands of dollars by the “Fat Old Restaurant Owners” to influence Wendy’s management… After all, first thing they do every day is check “AdScam” (doesn’t everyone?) to see what I’m saying about the fucking hamburger business. Listen, douchenozzle, the “Red Wig” campaign was shit… And even though I got paid thousands of dollars by the franchisees to say it was shit… IT REALLY WAS SHIT!
Cheers/George
January 29, 2008 at 4:15 pm
The “That’s Right” spots were made by Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Inc., which replaced McCann Erickson in January 2007 as the company’s top ad agency. Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners LLC and MediaVest Worldwide Inc. were hired for additional work at the time.
January 29, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Oh and the spot hasn’t been released yet far as I know.
AS
January 29, 2008 at 4:39 pm
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=123392
January 29, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Sad thing is, it’s probably the only honest work some of those ex ‘proactive award’ teams made too. I guess that means it’s much harder to make an ad when it’s real?
January 29, 2008 at 6:09 pm
>Do you really believe I single handedly got Wendy’s to shit can the Red Wig campaign?
I never said that. there are tons of people like you. especially the fat old franchise owners. all I’m saying is that the stuff they’re gonna do now is gonna suck all the more. read the comment, not just the headline.
the red wig campaign was mediocre but that’s besides the point. the problem is that nobody but burger king does anything interesting in that category and they only did it once or twice either. shit, perhaps jack in the box needs to wake up again.
January 29, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Required Name… Are you a fucking lobyist for the National Council for Better Burger Advertising, or what? Get over it… It’s fast food advertising. It’s all shit, it’s always been shit, it will always be shit. Instead of worrying about a subject as pathetic as this, go do good works in Tibet or something… We’re talking about advertising here. As George Orwell says at the top of AdScam… Advertising is the rattle of a stick in a swill pail… But, if you’re lucky, you can make a shitload of money at it. (Well, I said the last bit!) Otherwise, fuck off to Tibet and do something useful with your life.
Cheers/George
January 29, 2008 at 9:34 pm
This is pretty comical … I had a good laugh… “mystery fish” …. and of course… Waaaaayyyy
January 29, 2008 at 9:38 pm
no sir, I do not accept that just because everything else is shit anyone has a license to also join in and cash a check for creating shit.
so you didn’t like the original campaign. fine. I thought it was mediocre at best myself. but the backlash was the frost that bit the toe stuck into the water. who knows where this could have gone. it might have stayed weak, it might have ended up being playstation.
instead we went back to shit. look at the commercials, now live a couple threads above. they’re exactly what I predicted.
note that I am not saying people shouldn’t critizise. that’s totally okay. but to legitimize shit is the license of the weak. if everything else in the category sucks, the potential upside to doing something cool is all the larger. you of all people should know that.
January 29, 2008 at 9:38 pm
and since you care about the dough: all you need is one campaign you’re famous for and you can ride the gravy train. another reason to try.
January 29, 2008 at 9:40 pm
founder: I got the most massive laugh out of the voiceover. she also did tons of supermarket and clothing retailer voiceovers and whatnot else. she’s the most unobjectionable voice in the biz.
February 5, 2008 at 6:47 pm
the old campaign may not have done anything for sales, but I don’t see how trying to bullsh*t people by claiming it’s not fast food, will work. the new ads are like bad wallpaper.
February 9, 2008 at 4:11 am
Oh, Richard, how far from Odeon we have wandered. It’s waaaaaaaay different being owned by a public company, innit?
March 20, 2008 at 2:25 pm
If Wendy’s isn’t Fast Food then are they to change their approach and system of serving food? Are we to be attended to by waiters/servers/hostesses? Are we made to wait for our food while a chef freshly prepares each item? Are they to stop using processed food products drenched in calories, sodium, and fat as well? Not on your fucking life. Only stupid people eat fast Food, and the only people who are even more idiotic EAT AT WENDY’S. Eat up fatties.
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