The “We Have the Meats” campaign had helped turn Arby’s business around. Four years later, after such massive business growth, the idea had to evolve to suit Arby’s bigger place in the quick-serve restaurant category. Rather than just owning “the meats” niche, we had to position the brand more broadly to compete with burgers, pizzas, tacos and all the other traditional competitors. The brief was to make Arby’s a sandwich place, and to clarify that “the meats” are for sandwiches. We’d preserve the absurd enthusiasm of the brand voice we’d created, but broaden its subject matter to speak about the whole package of what we sell, instead of just the main ingredient. Our activation objectives sought to modernize the Arby’s brand in the world by: engaging with consumers outside of traditional advertising; creating a spectacle that builds long-term affinity for Arby’s; and reinforcing Arby’s is the place for sandwiches.

We collaborated with renowned tattoo artist Miguel “Uzi” Montgomery to create an original sheet of flash tattoo art. We depicted Arby’s sandwiches and accoutrements within traditional Americana tattoo motifs like eagles, daggers and wolves. Then, for one day, his shop—the famous Port City Tattoo—had all their artists tattooing from that flash sheet so our super fans could get a free sandwich for life. Because Instagram has become the digital hub of the tattoo community, all they had to do was announce the idea to their followers, and the word quickly spread around the globe. And, of course, the story of Arby’s super fans lining up to get free sandwich tattoos to express their devotion to our sandwiches was irresistible to the press and through social media buzz.

For those who don’t really know it, Arby’s is just the roast beef place. But to those who know–“Proud Carnivores”—Arby’s has the best sandwiches in their category. For this activation, we leveraged those super fans who know Arby’s as the sandwich place. We knew that by nurturing a reputation in the press for having a legion of super fans, people who knew us as just the roast beef place would be curious enough to want to find out what they’re missing. We also factored in the steep increase in food-related tattoos in social media and PR, particularly with influencers who focus on tattoo culture. We created social posts, a press release, a microsite, Facebook event and leveraged influencers. We also drove thousands of downloads on Arbys.com–where super fans brought the downloadable art to their own local tattoo artist, then proudly sharing the results on Instagram and Twitter.

The world-famous Port City is located in the mecca of American tattooing–Long Beach, California. The Long Beach tattoo culture was started by sailors stationed there who flocked to the pike to get tattoos. Tattoo artists working in Long Beach today consider themselves part of this rich history. We announced the Arby’s tattoo event the week prior to the event, using a Facebook Event, press release and social media to spread the news. More than 100 people lined up early–some driving more than 100 miles—to etch sandwich history into their skin. We captured video and photographic footage in real time, and then packaged those stories into social/PR assets we shared with media reporters, prompting a secondary news cycle. Beyond filling up every single available chair with tattoo artists ready to tattoo Arby’s fans, we also brought in sandwich samples to reinforce quality and variety for attendees.

The line of people waiting for tattoos was around the corner all day long, and over 100 of them made it inside to get their free sandwich for life. And, of course, the press and internet ate this sandwich gambit up. The idea caught fire–from USA Today to Jimmy Fallon, Today Show to Seth Myers–totaling 39 million media impressions, 148 media stories and 62 million social media conversations. Maybe best of all, we saw thousands of downloads of the Arby’s Sandwich Tattoo Flash Sheet on Arbys.com–because people who couldn’t attend downloaded and then brought a copy of the downloadable Arbys.com flash sheet to their local tattoo artist and paid for their sandwich for life, proudly sharing the results on Instagram and Twitter.