Last week, Wendy’s rolled out its newest campaign promoting their improved fries with a guarantee for hotness and crispiness. The commercial emphasizes the superiority of their French fries among the rest of fast-food restaurants, specifically bashing McDonald’s “cold and soggy fries” and mentioning that those of Wendy’s are preferred nearly two to one over them.
The 30-second spot, created by VMLY&R, expands on their strategy created from their revamping of fries in 2010, when they moved to skin-on potatoes and different cuts that would maintain better the temperature and texture. Considering the current customer needs, they understand it is important for the fries to be enjoyed, even if they are not eaten at the restaurant since take-out had an increase after the pandemic.
Instead of asking customers if they would like fries with their order –just like their competitors usually do– we can see Wendy’s giving fires the spotlight by asking them what they would like with their fries. In their own words, “It’s about time fries got put first. Introducing Wendy’s New Hot and Crispy Fries – guaranteed to be hot and crispy or we’ll replace them.”
I think this approach has a lot of potential since good fries could definitely be a decisive point for people to choose which fast-food restaurant to order from. Though, it has not been exploited by other brands before as we have seen with other menu items such as Chick-Fil-A and Popeye’s on the “chicken sandwich war.”
“The idea that cold and soggy fries suck is a universally accepted fact,” said Wendy’s chief marketing officer, Carl Loredo. “Hearing about the bag of sadness that comes with cold and soggy fries from the category.”
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