what should wendy's new advertising strategy be?

In 1996, Thomas filmed his 500th commercial. The company staged a lookalike contest that attracted 1,600 entrants vying for the grand prize: a chance to appear in a commercial with Thomas.

Some years after Wendys vanished from the UK the first time round I visited Venice, and was absurdly delighted to find one of their 'restaurants' just off St. Mark's Square. Culture...mmmm....

Far better fast food than the rest, in any case.

http://www.bmeink.com/A50420/high/bmegl053434.jpg

looks like there's hair in the upper right corner of that shake

They need to fill in with yellow

Yeah, it took me a while to figure out what was going on in that photo. The person's shaved hair follicles or skin pores or whatever almost look like the texture of a styrofoam cup.

Wendy's got a bad nose job.

wendy jackson

This is a terrible advertising strategy. That tat is positively nauseous.

HOW CAN YOU TELL?

I had previously supposed that Wendy's-diners were sorts of folk uninterested in culinary nausea, but perhaps I supposed wrongly.

Just got back from Wendy's. THEY'VE REMOVED THE CATTLE CORRAL. That was the only thing that separated Wendy's from the anarchies of McDonald's and Burger King.

Also, there were no old-timey ads to read on the table-tops, but I think those have been disappearing for awhile anyway.

But seriously. It looked like an Arby's in there. No terrarium either.

They nixed the ham and swiss ciabatta, which was the roundabout the only reasonable thing they had. Inexcusable.

I don't think I've seen old-timey ads on the tabletops since the early '90s!

wendy's is by far the best fast food joint in the US and as long as they have a chicken sandwich, fires and a frosty it's unfuckwithable in my book

yes as long as they feed me FIRE

the chicken sandwich!!

When I was younger and poorer I'd make a meal out of their 99-cent baked potato and 99-cent chili, combined in the obvious way -- this is still the cheapest, easiest fast-food thing I know of that feels like real actual life-sustaining food.

which topping would u get on the potatoe

(a) get it plain and pour in the chili
(b) broccoli

I still kinda miss that weird salad bar they used to have.

their burgers are fucking gross, and it's just...more odd than reassuring that they seem to put some effort into everything else. their fries and shakes i remember as being good but when i think of going to a place i think of their flagship item and if it sucks it puts me off the whole place, which is my problem i guess. wendy's is a place i can safely say i'll never go to again without ever really hating it.

Their latest advertising campaign, trying to ape the off-center vibe of Burger King's, is really fucking stupid.

If I see that guy in the wig interrupt the political debate again...

ftw
http://bestuff.com/images/images_of_stuff/210x600/wendys-spicy-chicken-sandwich-8064.jpg

I still kinda miss that weird salad bar they used to have.

-- Pleasant Plains, Monday, December 31, 2007 12:17 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

All-you-can-eat SUPERBAR! I think my brother and I are to blame for making those unprofitable.

Not Whatever This Fresh Hell Is...

https://www.foodandwine.com/wendys-introducing-dynamic-pricing-8600506

Tanner stated, “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”

In case that sounds like a load of corporate jargon, let us break it down: Dynamic pricing, as defined by our friends at Investopedia, allows companies to set variable pricing that can fluctuate up and down throughout the day, depending on demand. For example, if you’ve ever seen “surge pricing” on your Uber app, this is dynamic pricing.

"Businesses are able to change prices based on algorithms that take into account competitor pricing, supply, and demand, and other external factors in the market,” Investopedia explains. “Dynamic pricing is a common practice in several industries such as hospitality, travel, entertainment, retail, electricity, and public transport. Each industry takes a slightly different approach to repricing based on its needs and the demand for the product.”

This means a Wendy’s burger may sell at a higher price point during a busy lunch rush, then come down in price during an afternoon lull, and go back up again at dinner time.

Sounds like the top suite of corporate officers are desperate to find a some way to pump up the stock price. It's also a brilliant way to infuriate your customers and your franchise holders.

reminds me of a bar in Kalamazoo that has a "stock exchange" gimmick, where demand affects the prices of different beers on tap. but it's presented as a novelty, where the price never actually goes *too* high, and there are artificial random "market crashes" where everything is cheap for like a short period of time. the wendy's version doesn't sound like that.

thanks i hate it

my father has been with "Wendy's" for most of his adult life, quotes because over the past decade or so they have sold most of their restaurants to franchisees, pretty much just a brand today

anyways have it on good authority that everything went south when Dave died, RIP king

Baconator futures

Those features are so enhanced!
That's what I look for in a boiger... enhanced features....

What the fuck does “AI-enabled menu changes” mean? Making up new recipes with ChatGPT?

i am the only person i know - i have issues - who doesn't use drive-thrus and the wendys in my town is like a TB ward when you go in there. so bleak. like i'm half expecting to see Mother Theresa in the corner wiping someone's brow with a blood-speckled washcloth.

the quality of Wendy's burgers went off a cliff about a decade ago, so gross now

the junior bacon cheeseburger used to be pretty good. back when it was just a buck. I think their spicy chicken is still one of the best fast food sandwiches. and Frosties still rule. that said when you are talking about "dynamic prices" and "AI-assisted menu options" you are clearly going out of business

skot, about thirty years ago I saw a junkie pass out in the toilet at the West Street Wendy's in Danbury

This new business strategy feels like some higher-up pretty brazenly trying to sabotage the company from within and all of the other execs sagely smiling and nodding at this daring new approach because they're too stupid to recognize what's happening

the wendy's ai server clicks and hums in a remote datacenter, spewing out an endless stream of "spicy chicken frosties" on the front ticker tape.

Just to be a devil's advocate, why is this different from places that have a happy hour and offer discounts at off-peak times?

Because they are raising prices at peak times, which, in the context of fast food offerings, is the act of someone who is very very stupid.

Boy I can't wait until grocery stores follow this lead too. Such a great life in late stage capitalism.

I'll be surprised if this actually happens.