As a challenger brand in a crowded QSR field with less domestic marketing dollars than their major competitors, Wendy’s always needs to punch above their weight. Wendy’s had shaken up the fast food category when they launched Breakfast in 2020, with freshly cracked eggs successfully challenging and rivalling consumer favorites like McDonald’s Egg McMuffin and Burger King’s French toast sticks. But the challenges of introducing a new daypart during COVID had necessitated an ongoing focus throughout 2021 to aggressively drive consumer consideration and sales growth beyond the initial launch window.

In 2020, Wendy’s had successfully tapped into the excitement of the return of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, returning after a few years’ hiatus, to align with the national excitement of Wendy’s Breakfast national launch. Season 4 had been the highest rated (M18-34) original of the year and with the #1 highest social animated/comedy TV show engagement. Significantly, results from the 2020 partnership also proved that our brands share a passionate and committed fanbase.

So when we were challenged to continue pushing breakfast in 2021, and additionally engage our rest-of-day audience via the in-restaurant Coke partnership with Coke, leaning into that synergistic association was a no brainer, and we set out to catapult the partnership program into another dimension!

Wendy’s launched the program in June 2021 with an immersive drive-thru activation in Los Angeles, where they transformed a Wendy’s location into a “Morty’s” restaurant for 3 days to celebrate Rick and Morty Season 5 launch.

The temporary re-brand of our iconic Wendy’s logo into a pigtailed “Wendy-Morty” visually introduced the partnership, immediately drawing both in-person and full social media touchpoint attention. The drive-thru experience took customers through an LED tunnel featuring custom show graphics, bookended by giant character inflatables at the entrance/exit. Fans enjoyed free food from the ‘Wubba Lubba Grub Grub’ breakfast-heavy menu, including thematically re-named Wendy’s favorites and a “Pickle Rick” Frosty, surrounded by limited time signage, uniforms, and custom menus.

Intention was two-fold: to entertain fans on the ground with a true synergistic cross-brand experience which would thrill and excite, and to create a level of buzz that would garner national attention through cross-screen full US content distribution.

To ensure the Morty’s drive-thru content would be engaging for those who could not attend, a variety of content capture tactics including drone footage and micro-influencers, tasked with attending/creating posts for Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. In parallel a content hub on Fandom.com (a go-to for the show’s most passionate fans) featured livestreamed trivia shows and more custom content. As Season 4 progressed, Wendy’s continued to be heavily align with linear show sponsorship, airing an on-air and online custom video spot created with the Adult Swim team, and featuring Wendy’s breakfast characters within Rick and Morty’s universe. All of these elements combined to cement Wendy’s as a fan favorite, both across US QSR/Coke customers and across the Rick & Morty multiverse!