• Digital generated 210 million overall paid and earned impressions through social media, including 17 million-plus video views and engagement rates up to 9%.

• The campaign generated buzz – with 1,550 placements in publications as varied as USA TODAY and Fast Company and more than 876 million earned media impressions.

• The company calls the product “successful.” It contributed to a strong Q4. Financial analysts attribute Wendy’s same-store sales growth to products such as pulled pork.

You many not know it, but Americans are passionate about their barbecue. It’s not just a meal; it’s an experience that is earned through hours of patience and generations of learning.

So national fast food chains are not strongly considered when it comes to barbecue. Our data backed it up. We learned that consumers are very skeptical of barbecue from fast food restaurants. True barbecue lovers appreciate the time and care put into slowly preparing barbecue and sharing with friends and family.

The overall insight we developed based on this information was that, when it comes to barbecue, preconceptions run deep. Our challenge was to encourage consumers to reevaluate their preconceptions and try Wendy’s new menu.

So when Wendy’s introduced its new BBQ Pulled Pork Trio, we didn't try to pretend to be authentic. We had to be humble. So we positioned it as barbecue for the barbecue’ly-deprived: people unfortunate enough to live outside of America’s Barbecue Belt in a state we call, “Barbecue Inaccessibility.”

When considering our digital execution, we went back to the data, which indicated that those who loved BBQ and fast food also loved professional wrestling and nostalgic pop culture.

We brought all of this data together to create BBQ4merica, a celebrity endorsed, faux cause campaign that featured a wrestling superstar and two entertainment icons from the 80’s and 90’s. Behind their likable, nostalgic personas, we asked America to support our efforts in bringing quality BBQ to the underprivileged.

In the end, the nation responded by supporting the cause with engagement scores that soared past platform and brand benchmarks.