Fast Food Wars: Creative Social Campaigns From Drive-Thru Brands

Fast Food WarsOur consumer attention spans have grown numb, calloused, and unresponsive to the continuous stream of noise served up each day.

So, when something cuts through all the BS, it must be recognized.

The Fast Food chains have started getting some notice on social media with creativity, a couple shots at one another, and some snarkiness. These “Fast Food Wars” remind me of the Cola Wars between Coca-Cola and Pepsi back in the 70s. While the fast food chains duking it out for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner dollars is nothing new, the creative ways they are levering the social media channels is noteworthy.

Let’s take a peek at some of the ways these brands are cutting through the noise and getting some buzz.

Colonel Sanders Likes The Spice Girls and 6 Dudes Named Herb

Colonel SandersLast week, a Twitter user just unveiled the cleverness of KFC’s social media brainiacs.

The 11 people that Kentucky Fried Chicken has decided to follow on Twitter are the five spice girls and six guys named Herb.

For those not yet picking up on the genius of this, KFC has long talked about the secret 11 herbs and spices that go into the breading on their chicken that so many love.

Extra credit must be given to @edgette22 for noticing that KFC was only following 11 people and then digging in more to see who they were.

Here’s How It Went Down

Edge continued to post Tweets about his encounter mentioning the memorable Nuggets for Carter campaign…

And even showcases other restaurants taking advantage of this 15 minutes.

KFC finally responded to Edge

We really hope that @edgette22 gets something for his discovery… perhaps a bucket of tasty KFC chicken signed by Colonial Sanders, the Spice Girls, and the six guys named Herb stuck in the middle of this.

KFC is not the only fast food company doing fun shit on social.  Here are a couple more nuggets (that was blatant) for you.

Wendy Being Sassy

The red hair stereotype must be shining through on social media.

This apparently began in response to an internet troll who decided to challenge Wendy’s claim that their beef is never frozen.

Most brands would ignore such a response. The unexpected and witty comeback by Wendy’s social peeps earned them street cred.

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From here, people begin to engage Wendy’s on Twitter to see how she responds.

Burger King Takes Aim At Wendy’s

Burger King has taken direct aim at Wendy’s customers with a variety of recent moves.

In response to Wendy’s 4 for $4 meal deal, they “one-upped” them and came out with a 5 for $4 meal deal.

 

Earlier this year, Wendy’s decided to discontinue their spicy nuggets. This did not sit well with many Wendy’s customers that took their displeasure online.

Burger King took advantage and lived up to their slogan “Have It Your Way”.

Earlier this month, Burger King added spicy nuggets to their menu and took direct aim at Wendy’s in a variety of ways.

They placed billboards near Wendy’s locations.

To continue the attack, Burger King announced that anyone named “Wendy” that visited a Burger King restaurant on October 13th would get a FREE 10 piece spicy nuggets.

Booyah!

So, what’s the takeaway here?

Each of these brands took unique approaches that outside the “safe zone” that so many marketers are fearful of venturing away from.

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be boring and vanilla.

There are over 6,000 Tweets per second, 300 Million photos uploaded to Facebook each day, and over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. That is a ton of competition.

Create a strategy focused on content that your buyer personas will find valuable and engage with.

Don’t be generic in your responses.

Take calculated risks.

Your customers are talking online. Join them.

 

 

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