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According to the Wall Street Journal, Wendy’s canned Mr. Wendy today:
Wendy’s International Inc., based in Dublin, Ohio, and advertising agency McCann Erickson announced Thursday that “Mr. Wendy” won’t be seen after the end of the month.
“While decisions are still being made about new creative, food has always been the hero at Wendy’s, and we’re going to make sure that comes through loud and clear,” Wendy’s marketing executive Don Calhoon said.
The ads had drawn some poor marks on Wall Street.
For a brand that communicates quality is our recipe in fast casual food, Mr. Wendy was a distraction from this brand positioning.
Wendy’s may have been looking for a new spokesperson after the death of founder Dave Thomas some three years ago. The problem with such a strategy is that during thirteen years as pitch man for the chain, Mr. Thomas became an icon for the brand, so much so that any new spokesperson pales by comparison.
Wendy’s will now attempt to reframe the conversation on a basis that is authentic, relevant and compelling to the consumer, to win this conversation within their business category, and ultimately to own the conversation and set the tone for the entire industry.
When attempting to unite a series of brands within a single message, an “umbrella brand” strategy is one way to get your consumer, audience, or constituency to make you their first choice.
An umbrella brand is a high altitude articulation of difference and benefits with several sub-conversations captured beneath. It unites a series of sub-brands with one voice, leaving room for each sub-brand to engage in sub-conversations relevant to more precisely targeted markets, through use of different products and promotional means.
As with all effective brand strategy, umbrella brands require a single message, an expression of a commonsense benefit grounded in human emotion that opens the way to own the conversation within a business category.
Umbrella brands abound in business; examples include Virgin, Kellogg’s, Sony, and location brands such as Japan, Manitoba, and St. Louis.
Umbrella brand strategy can assist nonprofit organizations seeking to unite diverse local chapter needs with a national headquarters operation, by allowing room for chapters to share a national brand promise while demonstrating brand relevancy to their own local markets.
Picture your nonprofit organization communicating a clear, emotionally-engaging message. You could own the conversation and increase your resource base. Ask us how we can help you turn this vision into reality.
This week Whisper opened a new office in Europe. Salut!
One of the branding lessons that can be taken from the 2004 U.S. Presidential election is that in the States, voters are consumers and candidates are brands. And just like consumers of Uncrustables, Budweiser or Volkswagen, they make emotional, not logical decisions.
The best way to get the consumer to make you their choice is with a singular top-of-mind emotional message, a message that allows you to own the conversation. Once that message has been established, all sub-messaging must work in the same direction as the main message.
The fate of the Democratic challenger in yesterday’s election vividly demonstrated what happens to a brand that becomes bogged-down with multidirectional logical messages. If you need more proof consider this: there isn’t a single human being on the planet, no matter how busy, who doesn’t have the time to make a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and yet Uncrustables have convinced millions of American’s otherwise.
Imagine if you actually had a product with a logical benefit and an emotional hook? You would own the conversation. We can make it happen for you.
Thanks to Dustin Johnson for filling our freezer with Uncrustables.
This week Whisper launched its new office in Tokyo. Konnichiwa!
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