In 2021, American restaurants were facing an unparalleled shortage in chicken wings, one of the country’s most popular foods. Wingstop, a brand built on the mission of “serving the world flavor”, was faced with an unimaginable challenge - how do you keep the lights on when your business depends on wings?

Thanks to America’s preference for chicken breast, the overlooked chicken thigh was the one part of the supply not yet exhausted. Thighs were on 2% of menus in the U.S. whereas chicken wings were at 42%. With under $10 million in media support, Wingstop needed to pivot its national advertising budget away from selling wings and instead inspire people to try a new innovation from the brand - thighs.

Three primary objectives:

•Shift consumer demand from wings to thighs.

•Attract new customers to the brand.

•Drive cultural resonance by positioning Wingstop’s thighs as the solution to the wing shortage.

As the chicken wing shortage hit mainstream news, consumer shock quickly evolved into feeling the loss of not being able to have their favorite flavors. Fans had cravings they could not fulfill and were left feeling like they had no options.By offering chicken thighs, a product Americans had less experience with but replicated the experience of chicken wings, Wingstop would be able to satiate their desire for the flavorful experience of the brand despite the shortage.

In eight weeks, Wingstop pivoted its comms plan to pitch and market an entirely new virtual ghost kitchen brand - “Thighstop” both a brand and product solution that delivered the flavor experience chicken wing fans were craving. By capitalizing on a trending news story, Wingstop turned a business development most brands were hiding from, into the most talked about product launch in its history.

Faced with industry-crippling supply side challenges, Wingstop took advantage of the newsworthiness of the chicken wing shortage to launch a product with more attention than would ever otherwise be achieved.

The earned media key messages positioned Thighstop as the solution to chicken wing fans' prayers amidst the wing shortage. Ensuring Wingstop continued to deliver on its mission to serve the world flavor, even when the world needed it most.

We broadly announced the news via press release and outreach across all national verticals including pop-culture, late night/daytime programming, lifestyle, hip hop, and financial.

Thighstop was a 360 hack on the Wingstop brand using thousands of ghost kitchens nationwide. In days we updated our assets to turn any mention of “Wingstop” to “Thighstop”, and shift our social and influencer strategy to match. To show how quickly we had pivoted, we designed a crude “Thigh” label and slapped it over any mention of wings in existing media. Even our tagline, “Where Flavor Gets Its Wings” became, “Where Flavor Gets Its Thighs.”

Thighstop teamed up with a cultural icon and Wingstop franchisee, Rick Ross, to announce Thighstop’s arrival in a commercial running across TV, Cinema & Video . We partnered with TikTok influencers and media that aligned with our core “flavor fan” audience, earning their advocacy to drive purchase at scale.

To incentivize trial, Thighstop even hacked the National Chicken Wing day promotion and turned it into a national holiday for thighs.

The Thighstop brand and product launch created distinction for Wingstop in the category as an innovative restaurant leader who capitalized on a culturally relevant way to create demand around a product that historically had little demand. The brand was able to deliver on its mission of “serving the world flavor” when chicken wing fans needed us most.

Thighstop was seen as a digitally innovative marketing solution to solve both a business and human need. Thighstop helped to alleviate the immense cost pressure that franchise operators were facing.

•Increased sales by 10% year-over-year.

•6.5 Billion earned media impressions.

•Stock price increased 8% week of launch.

Galvanizing the influential power of the “flavor fan” audience paid off as Thighstop was able to recruit new customers into the brand who had never been to Wingstop before.

•60% of people who purchased Thighstop via Doordash were new to the Wingstop brand.