Advertising Fuelosophy 101

Does a Brand have to Cut Through the Clutter by Going in the Gutter?

Does a brand have to cut through the communication clutter by going in the gutter? According to the largest franchisee of Hardee's the answer is no way! Boddie-Noell Enterprises in North Carolina has vowed not to use the restaurant chain's controversial biscuit hole ad and also says it will press Hardee's parent CKE to clean up the campaign and eliminate the spots "in all markets."

The franchisee's move came after it received a complaint about the spots -- which uses terms like A-hole, B-hole, sweet balls and "bisticals" as potential names for the new biscuit holes that compete with products such as Dunkin' Donuts' doughnut holes. The complaint was rendered by Parents Television Council. The PTC objected to the "racy" and "brainless" nature of the biscuit hole campaign, which it contends is inappropriate for family viewing.

Boddie-Noell Enterprises chairman Ben Mayo Boddie agreed and said they do not plan to air the spots in any markets they control. The company operates almost 350 Hardee's restaurants in the Carolinas, Virginia and Kentucky.

The response from CKE was classic and said it would not pull the ad: "CKE Restaurants, Inc., owner and franchisor of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants, adopts a creative approach to our advertising. It is intended to communicate the core message of our premium quality food to our target audience of Young, Hungry Guys. We do not aim to exclude or offend any other group with our efforts, but merely to appeal and amuse a very specific audience." Click here for more of their response and story.

I find CKE's response interesting with two notable phrases: "premium quality food" and "young, hungry guys." And to me I'm struggling to completely understand their strategic intent.

Keep in mind, I'm not the target audience (too old), but had to laugh at the statement of "young, hungry guys" since it conjured up visions of elementary school and junior high where all guys laughed at body parts and body functions. I'm wondering, beginning in high school, then college and on to 20 something workers if body humor starts to wane.

Then what about the terms of A-hole, B-hole, sweet balls and "bisticals" being associated with their  premium quality food. Here's where I really scratched my head. We work with a few restaurant brands and what we have learned over the years is it's about the food ... good food brings diners (fast food or otherwise). So when you make an association for those sophomoric young, hungry guys that your premium quality food is compared tongue-in-cheek with an orifice or reminds you of the male anatomy ... yeah I guess that is appealing ... not!

Last, but not least, I'm sure CKE and their agency feel that the advertising will capture the attention of their very specific audience. In reality, it may because my guess is that they have generalized that all young, hungry guys don't think, they just eat, so let's just get their attention any way we can. But we all know that young, hungry guys think about sex even more, so why didn't the company think about that.

Well, here's a few of the spots for your review and I've given you my thoughts, what's yours?

Detroit Lions- King of the Letdowns

 
Wow! What a letdown. I’m really used to saying that about the Detroit Lions, but I’m usually referring to their playing, not their logo. Yes, the Lions have a new logo and surprise! It looks just like every other professional team franchise logo that has been re-designed in last few years.

 

I can’t say that I’m really hating it and I’m definitely not saying I like it either. But it definitely is a “me too” logo. They've succumbed to the woosh factor! What ever happened to originality? Does the NFL force all teams to use the same graphic designer? Why can’t they just win a stinking game?

Well, I can only hope the new design breathes new life into the team and reinvigorates them. Let’s hope for a 1 and 15 season! After all, there’s no where to go but up!

Mozilla Firefox Updates It's Logo ... Really!

With the upcoming release of Firefox 3.5, there’s refined logo to go along with it. While I’m always open to a logo or brand refresh every few years, sometimes I just have to wonder why.

Overall the new design is very similar to the old one. The new one has more detail, and less contrast in the fox, and the earth land masses have shifted, has less contrast and another coat of shellac added to it to give it that extra oomph.

I personally do like the new logo better, but would I (or 98%) of Firefox users ever have noticed if Mozilla had not announced it?  

How Would Dave Thomas React To Wendy's Ad Campaign... Waaaay Better Than Fast Food?

I really like Wendy's. I really miss Dave Thomas.  And right now, I'm wondering if Dave is pondering the way lost by his daughter's namesake, Wendy's. More romantically, perhaps he is sitting upon a cloud craving a burger and wondering what on earth happened to the brand he founded and represented iconically before his unfortunate demise on January 8th, 2002. Since then, he has seen the fast food chain flounder from one relatively unsuccessful positioning and advertising campaign to another before landing on the latest introduced last year... "It's Waaaay Better Than Fast Food. It's Wendy's" (with 4 aaaas for emphaaaasis).

What sparked this post was a simple comment my marketing director/ad agency owner/fabulous mother/wife made last night right after one of their commercials aired. I quote, "Why would they denigrate their category? Everyone knows they're a fast food chain." Hmmm. Good point. Hadn't thought of that. And I'm thinking Dave would agree. After all, consumers these days are pretty savvy and well, they may end up wondering the same thing. Of course. Wendy's isn't really saying they're not a fast food choice. I actually get what they're trying to do. But hey - first impressions. Maybe, just maybe they're being too clever and confusing the issue.

Before I continue, I would like to state for the record that I really enjoy Wendy's burgers. In fact, I have enduring memories of piling into a car at high school lunch with my pals and heading to Wendy's. I remember standing in line and watching them cook up my order fresh (this would be around 1979). Of course that doesn't happen any more, but the grub's still pretty good. I also like this campaign better than the goofy guys in red pigtails effort before it. But I'm also frustrated that my favorite fast food hamburger joint has had such a hard time recapturing the glory Days of Dave. Sure, the entire restaurant industry in every category is suffering right now. And Wendy's, like most other chains, is promoting recession-busting bundles and deals (3conomics, etc.). But I can't help thinking that they still haven't been able to differentiate their brand the way Dave did. They can't live on discounting and LTOs alone. From a branding standpoint, everything they do feels derivative and me-too to me. In fact, I sometimes feel like they're trying to outburger Burger King with their positioning and creative. Regardless, where's the clear, out-and-out differentiation of Wendy's? They had it once, they don't now (in my humble opinion).

Here's how Wendy's 2008 press release described the Waaaay Better effort at inception (my comments in italic):

"Our quality food will be the hero of our advertising once again. 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."

I'm sure they researched the heck out of it, but I think they missed the positioning. It's still fast food any way you eat it. And by the way, an awful lot of people like, no LOVE fast food! I think Dave would agree that they maybe should have gone back to their roots to make it clear that they do fast food better... something like, "fast food the way it used to be, fresh and good." I'm not saying that's the right line, but at least it's clearer, doesn't require as much thought from consumers and goes directly back to Wendy's roots. Hey, why not elevate the category, rather than imply you're better AND something else (though what that is is obviously not entirely clear). It's tough to fool the masses these days.

"The Wendy icon stands for wholesome authenticity and honest quality," said Jon Bond, chairman of kirshenbaum bond + partners. "It's one of the most powerful, under-used assets in the consumer world today."

I have tremendous respect for kirshenbaum bond + partners. Unfortunately, I don't think Wendy can ever replace Dave, especially as a previously under-used asset now animated. Most of us have a tough enough time living up to our father's standards, but at least we're not cartoons. Maybe Kirshenbaum's research revealed something different, but I (and I suspect most) don't know Wendy from a logo - no real equity, history, charachter, personality or story beyond daughter and artwork.

I'm not going to spend hours analyzing this, and I truly understand the difficulty Wendy's and its agencies have faced in bringing this brand back to the place Dave left it when he left us, because Fresh Fuel has restaurant clients too. But my wife got me thinking and I'd love to know what you think. Dave, if you're out there, leave a comment. And please, if you can, don't ever let them bring you back to life like a reanimated Orville Redenbacher... even as a last resort.

For more on how leaders affect company brands (Dave Thomas in particular), check out Megan's great post "Leading Advantages: Face To Face With Dave Thomas and Wendy's."