VMLY&R

London

All Beef. No Bull.

BACKGROUND

Wendy’s, the number two burger chain in the US, has been serving people craveable, authentic and approachable fast-food since 1969. The brand has enjoyed longstanding growth in their primary markets of USA & LATAM, but with these markets reaching saturation, international expansion was the next stop on their mission to save the world from mediocre fast food.

Challenge

We were bringing Wendy’s flavour of fresh fast-food to the UK consumer. But we had a mountain to climb. McDonald’s and Burger King dominate 92% of the market, they’ve occupied British high streets for umpteen years, and barely anyone under the age of 40 has ever heard of Wendy’s. We couldn’t win on muscle. We had to define the battlefield.

Solution

To get our brand heard, we went for the jugular. Research showed that UK customers had been massively let down by the quality of the category. Wendy's believe customers deserve better. It's why they're obsessed with freshness. For them, pre-made is the devil's work. To bring this commitment to life and show how we are so much better than the fast-food factories, we created a new platform relevant for the UK consumer that delivered home truths in Wendy's iconic sassy tone. We called this "All Beef. No Bull." A status-quo challenging idea called out the category's failings (Bull) and presented Wendy's as the solution (Beef). By reinforcing Wendy's message of fresh 100 per cent British beef with our famous personality, we drove awareness and built brand love so that young urban Brits would try our burgers for the first time. Being the underdog has its advantages. With a bold strategy, a laser-focused media approach, we could win win hearts and stomachs town by town, street by street, and tweet by tweet.

Results

By maintaining the brand’s iconic tone of voice with a level of genuineness, cheekiness, and sense of fun, we managed to generate queues around the corner for the first restaurant opening in Reading with impressive overall engagement for launch week alone.

All Beef. No Bull.

In line with the first restaurant opening in the UK, Wendy’s unveiled their new brand platform for the UK market - All Beef. No Bull. The platform challenges the status quo by calling out the failings of others in the category and presenting Wendy’s quality as the solution.