What’s the beef?

Brands are consistently finding ways to stand out from the competition.  You have to be unique and exciting but most importantly, your product has to be differentiated amongst all in the same industry.

So how do you make your brand stand out?  Speak out about the competitor directly, of course. An entertaining fast food battle you might want to follow is the beef between Wendy’s and McDonald’s (yes, you had to see that cheesy line coming).

During Super Bowl LII, Wendy’s decided to take a direct shot at its popular competitor, McDonald’s, during a 30 second commercial in which Wendy’s spoke out about McDonald’s ‘flash frozen’ hamburger patties. In it, Wendy’s stated that even McDonald’s claimed on their website that their burgers were made that way to ‘seal in fresh flavor.’  In the commercial, Wendy’s said,’ The iceberg that sank the Titanic was frozen too.’ Ouch…

Being that one of Wendy’s most prized differentiator is the fact that their beef patties are never frozen and made fresh to order, this was indeed a direct shot to make them stand out and look more appealing to their audience.

And if you thought it ended there, Wendy’s actually came out with a series of commercials bashing McDonald’s about their ‘flash frozen’ beef patties. Some of  the comments from Wendy’s:

“Flash Frozen? That’s two Fs for efforts.”

“We think if your thing is fresh flavor you should start with fresh beef like we do on every hamburger, everyday.”

“Skip the hamburgers at the Frozen Arches.”

McDonald’s seemed to be unbothered by the commercials but in early March, the company decided to announce that they will begin using fresh beef on their Quarter Pounders in the US (minus the restaurants in Alaska and Hawaii). In true form, Wendy’s had more than a mouthful to say about the news.  Take a look at the Twitter responses Wendy’s dished out (even taking aim at another competitor Burger King):

Capitalizing on social media and its ability to spread news fast, just last week, Wendy’s decided to create an entire rap mixtape highlighting their goodness while of course beefing with their competitors. A creative and uh…different marketing strategy indeed. Here’s the link to this mixtape if you’re hungry for more of Wendy’s tactics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXPoMyWhcM

So what do you think? Do you believe directly bashing a competitor is a smart and effective strategy? What are the implications here? Does humor play a factor in making this strategy effective?

References

Gurdus, E. (2018). Wendy’s just released a hip-hop mixtape— here’s what the CEO had to say. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/wendys-just-released-a-hip-hop-mixtape-heres-what-the-ceo-had-to-say.html

Messitte, N. (2018). What does the Wendy’s mixtape mean for modern hip-hop? Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmessitte/2018/03/26/will-the-wendys-mixtape-change-modern-hip-hop/#c07d6a143c6c

Quinn, D. (2018). Wendy’s mocks McDonald’s after Super bowl telecast snafu: ‘Ya’ll freeze the live feed?’ People. Retrieved from http://people.com/food/super-bowl-2018-wendys-mocks-mcdonalds/

Rossman, S. (2018). Wendy’s brings the beef, rips McDonald’s over fresh beef Quarter Pounders. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/03/07/wendys-brings-beef-rips-into-mcdonalds-over-its-fresh-beef-quarter-pounders/402584002/