US fast food chain Wendy’s teamed up with The Legacy Motor Club’s NASCAR racing team to revive its famous ‘Where’s The Beef?’ slogan during the 2023 Daytona 500.
The return of the ‘Where’s The Beef?’ slogan, which first appeared in Wendy’s advertising back in 1984 through ‘Fluffy Bun’ (one of the most memorable Super Bowl spots ever) and then was revived in three subsequent campaigns, kicked off during the 17 to 19 February Daytona 500 race weekend and will continue through NCAA March Madness.
It saw the Ohio headquartered quick service chain partner with Legacy’s No 42 Chevy Camaro raced by NASCAR driver and Wendy’s ambassador Noah Gragson.
The tie-up revolved around the vehicle’s Wendy’s-themed custom paint job which included the famous slogan and emphasised the brand’s signature square buns. Ahead of the race weekend, Wendy’s posted a video on its official Twitter account providing fans with a 360-degree view of an animated rendering of the Wendy’s-branded Camaro.
The sides of the racing car had an image of the brand’s Wendy mascot wearing a racing helmet and goggles, while on the bonnet/hood was a huge, painted Wendy’s cheeseburger alongside the words ‘The Beef’ and on the bumper was the copy line ‘Wendy’s has the Beef’.
The racing activation dropped the flag on a mini Daytona 500 burger battle pitting Wendy’s against McDonald’s which sponsors the Michael Jordan owned 23XI Racing team with its golden arches stretching across the top of Bubba Wallace’s No23 Toyota.
The rivalry spilled off the track as Wendy’s CMO Carl Loredo trashed McDonald’s racing activation via his personal Twitter account and in the media.
“We’re proud of Noah Gragson’s No 42 ‘ The BEEF’ car and fans have been praising the paint scheme on social all week long,” said Loredol. “We can’t say the same goes for our McBland competitors. At Wendy’s, we don’t cut corners.”
McDonald’s struck back when 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta tweeted a reply stating “Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder so appreciate your thoughts @carlloredo. I can tell you our focus @23XIRacing is on results so pretty happy with our 11th place qualifying result last night…you?”
Gragson was 28th in the Daytona 500 time trials. Wallace and McDonalds got the edge in the Daytona 500 line-up and will start 15th on Sunday over Gragson and Wendy’s at 22nd for NASCAR’s season-opener.
Comment
This is the latest sporting illustration of marketing industry’s current obsession with nostalgia: an approach that has spread through the month from the NFL’s Super Bowl to NASCAR’s Daytona 500 during February.
Indeed, the marketing revival sees Wendy’s join competitors like Burger King and McDonald’s in putting a new twist on a classic fast-food marketing campaign as the trio seeks to simultaneously energise older fans while winning new ones.
But, after this particular iconic campaign has already been revived three times, we can’t help but wonder just how many more times the brand can ask consumers the same meaty question?
The famous Wendy’s ‘Where’s the Beef?’ campaign debuted in 1984 and featured a trio of elderly women admiring a large hamburger bun and then expressing disappointment when they lift the bun’s lid to find a small beef patty. Burger from Wendy’s competitors including Burger King’s Whooper and McDonald’s Big Mac were even mentioned by name.
The ad and slogan leveraged the mid-80s zeitgeist and it rapidly became a nationwide catchphrase used to refer to anything which seems grandiose but lacks substance – including politicians.
Wendy’s first revived the campaign 2011 with ‘Here’s the Beef’, brought it back again in 2016 ‘Where’s the Beef… From’ and again in 2020 (as the US experienced a beef shortage during the early days of the pandemic).
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.