In Wendy’s we rust

The first 14 days of January. Some people call it the most heinous of weeks.

The ultimate hangover for December’s tra-la-las of holidays, the just don’t fuck too hard with people time of year.

So straight outta the Wendyverse, considered one of QSR’s first hurrah into Mark Zuckerberg’s Planet of The Apes à la Metaverse, is Wendy’s who just falls short with their quasi-experiential social campaign in early January. 2022 had a silver lining on its marketing hurrahs, like the grey-haired makeover of their beloved icon after one of Canada’s beloved icons got an unforeseen air lift from the anchor’s chair. When CTV News “exited” Lisa LaFlamme last September, the brand quickly stood with a grey-haired Wendy’s logo. Talk about solidarity my friends—righteous. Albeit temporary, righteous.

Earlier in March Wendy’s digitally erected that Wendyverse, a branded VR experience in Meta Horizon Worlds. Impressive indeed, yet it lacked storytelling and community building. Oculus clad warriors of the lame-broiled could imbibe in burger bowling or a virtual tour inside a Wendy’s. Wow oh my, how one can spell excitement.

I even heard some sort of a coupon thing was going on, but I just couldn’t coupon going.

And so, this brings me to the mysterious French toast man. Wendy’s planted a non-descript, middle aged white guy on public transpo (we call it Population One here in Toronto), having breakfast on a white lined table. His most nonchalant demure made this look, well, normal. Sitting at a white clothed table on the subway in the morning—eating French toast. SOUNDS VIRAL TO ME!

And it was, kinda. I mean, it caught the interest of major media outlets and splattered the feeds of Gen Zers who don’t mind munching up a thousand calories pre-9am. So what’s missing? For one, it’s boring. Create awareness for their handy dandy new French toast bites, so read the brief. A sparkling new addition to their breakfast menu, so boasted the brief. With a $20 half-litre organic maple syrup as my shepherd, we dip into the marketing guffaw of how sweet this campaign could have, should have, been.

Make it a story. Behind French toast dude, embed a QR code within some fake ad. Make the ad feel authentic, so it’s like you’re catching an easter egg within a smaller picture. Plenty of real estate behind or near the guy for a poster that can look just a little out of sorts.

Maybe the QR Code funnels to a landing page of an early bird movement of French toast aficionados declaring breakfast redux. Think of how the Blair Witch site captured hoards of denizens from the Navigator era and lit up BBSs everywhere. The more authentically unique something is, the more attractive it’ll become to share. Hence, virality. Had Wendy’s milked this campaign just a tad more, they could have garnered a solid week or so of Reddit chatter, Reels and TikTok shares for some real buzz about literally, and I mean let’s be honest, chopping up French toast into rectangular pieces and slapping them into a container meant for fries.

Maybe they could have had Snapchat produce an AR experience while pointing your phone at the dude, or even at the image of the dude from a secondary screen. Another storytelling tactic for those 18–44-year-olds to stop the scroll and lick up their sticky paws of that gooey fructose concoction they call syrup.

Now that it’s all said and done, the enigma of French toast man is well, a tad anemic without a good storytelling hook, and that’s the relationship between content, community and technology that Wendy’s keep missing.

In hamburger speak, it’s all patty and no meat.

What do you think about Wendy’s recent campaign in Toronto? Think they created awareness or pressed their luck on not having been mugged, stabbed or shot, considering the recent wave of violence on the city’s public transportation?

BTW I love a Wendy’s burger. They really are delicious.