Most corporations have a policy of not engaging with negative comments. But we believe it’s all a matter of attitude and style. This is especially true in the fast food burger wars, where the players don’t always play nice.

So armed with Wendy’s signature quick wit and fast response, we set out to take on the haters and call out the competition. The conversation was fresh vs. frozen, and we had a huge advantage—the truth was on our side.

January. Wendy’s responds to a Twitter provocation from Thuggy D. The humorous exchange goes viral, generating organic earned national media coverage of Wendy’s “fresh” response.

February. With Wendy’s leading the fresh vs. frozen conversation, the team recommends the brand jump into the Super Bowl, mere days away. Turned around in record time, Wendy’s “Cold As Ice” spot (Wendy’s first Super Bowl ad), delivers more than Super impressions -- PR generates earned media from outlets that rarely cover Wendy’s.

March. McDonald’s announces “by mid-2018, all Quarter Pounder burgers at the majority of our restaurants will be cooked with fresh beef.” The team immediately sees flaws in this “announcement” and replies: @McDonalds So you’ll still use frozen beef in MOST or your burgers in ALL of your restaurants? Asking for a friend.”

With that, Wendy’s hijacked McDonald’s media blitz, defended its turf, and walked away the winner in every communications channel.

The two national Twitter exchanges combined generated 2.4 billion earned media impressions.

Thuggy-D Exchange:

TARGET AUDIENCE RESPONSE/OUTCOMES

• Over 185,600 earned engagements on the initial tweet.

• Over 20 million visits to Wendy’s Twitter profile page.

• Over 200,000 new Wendy’s followers, hitting our 1 million follower mark.

• 407% increase in conversation volume mentioning Wendy’s over a 10-day period.

MEDIA OUTPUTS

• More than 869 million impressions from 222 placements in major media outlets.

• We turned a 45+-year-old brand slogan into global news with a single tweet.

McDonald’s Exchange:

TARGET AUDIENCE OUTCOMES

• 1,650% increase in conversation about Wendy’s within 24 hours, compared to the previous day.

• Ongoing community management with the social world earned an additional 22 million impressions, 1 million engagements, and more than 38,000 new followers of @Wendys.

MEDIA OUTPUTS

• 1.6 billion earned media impressions from 307 placements across major media outlets.

• Most importantly, 82% of the conversation surrounding McDonald’s Fresh Beef announcement also mentioned Wendy’s — stealing McDonald’s show and reinforcing Wendy’s fresh advantage.

Media Coverage of Wendy’s Super Bowl Spot Fires Up Yet More “Fresh” Debate:

MEDIA OUTPUTS

• PR has earned 166 media stories on the spot since its TODAY Show (1/30) debut, resulting in another 1.14 billion earned media impressions on the “fresh vs frozen” debate, on top of the 2.4 billion from the two Twitter exchanges.

• Ninety-five percent of all resulting stories reinforced Wendy’s fresh beef message as its #1 point of competitive differentiation.