For this first time in seven years, Wendy’s permanently added new menu items with the “Made to Crave” hamburger trio. To break through the crowded QSR space and connect with Wendy’s core audience, we took over an event in a way that only Wendy’s could, as the Official Hamburger of the Winter X Games. We collaborated with ESPN on a never-been-done-before mid-mountain “Ski-Thru” as the star component within an immersive 360 sponsorship plan. Serving thousands of free fresh Wendy’s Made to Crave hamburgers at our mid-mountain restaurant, the unexpected pop-up produced noteworthy buzz and delivered unforgettable fan moments.

These days Wendy’s may be widely known as the sassy redhead reigning Twitter, but when it comes to media budgets, the golden arches has Wendy’s outspent. As a challenger brand fighting a behemoth, launching a new product in an overflowing QSR field can be an uphill battle. As a result, we needed to find places where we could reach our core target in an ownable, unique way that only Wendy’s could pull off. Initial research discovered that Wendy’s target was passionate about shared experiences while watching and playing sports.

To successfully launch the Made to Crave lineup, while connecting with Wendy’s core target, we planned and executed a weeklong partnership with Winter X Games to:

Show fans “We Got You” (Wendy’s brand purpose statement) with Wendy’s “Ski-Thru”

Introduce the Made to Crave lineup and increase brand awareness

Total on-site, on-air, and online media ownership of the X Games

Our QSR hamburger consumer research told us that sharing quality experiences would elicit action from our core target, so to introduce the new menu items during a busy event we had to connect with customers’ passions through an authentic experience that would break through the clutter and convey our brand voice. At Wendy’s, the “We Got You” mantra applies not only to our fresh, high quality food, but by providing customers with what they crave across their passions.

To create an experience that would enrich attendees’ day-to-day activities on the slopes, we came up with the Wendy’s “Ski-Thru.” We built the first-ever custom pop-up that lived on the side of Buttermilk Mountain at the X Games. The never-been-done-before experience put thousands of fresh-never-frozen Wendy’s hamburgers in the hands of skiers on their runs down the mountain in Aspen and served as the backdrop for our 360 sponsorship content.

Wendy’s has a very passionate audience, who is also passionate about THEIR passions. One of the core passions for customers who have purchased Wendy’s/QSR hamburgers is watching and playing sports, along with cross-channel consumption on laptop/PC, linear TV, and social/mobile. For sports and X Games fans who couldn’t join us live, we discovered that they were motivated by getting access to exclusive content and feeling like they have insider knowledge, and we wanted to ensure that we provided that insider’s look for them through our content.

To create awareness and consideration for Wendy’s new hamburger lineup, we employed a media strategy that would take over X Games by:

Building a first ever on-site Ski-Thru experience mid-mountain, where fans could taste the new Made to Crave BBQ Cheeseburger

Dominating the airways with cross-channel media sponsorships including customized elements like Wendy’s on-mountain graphics, a new event (Knuckle Huck) and athlete profile segments.

On the stunning slopes in Aspen, we delivered a 360 plan to promote Wendy’s new Made to Crave menu by connecting with our audience’s passions. The main component was our Ski-Thru, showing fans that at Wendy’s “We Got You” through our hamburgers AND our custom content. We:

Built the first ever Ski-Thru, serving thousands of Wendy’s new hamburgers so fans could grab a FREE quick bite without leaving the slopes – and watch events from a unique view at our footprint

Launched surprise content, including former competitor celebrities Jack Mitriani & Tom Wallisch doing tricks and serving hamburgers at the pop-up, decked out in Wendy’s pigtail-braided ski attire

Collaborated with Jeep, another X Games sponsor, on video content where a Jeep drove through our Ski-Thru alongside skiers

Distributed custom content on-air during the broadcast and on Twitter from ESPN’s XGames handle, plus Wendy’s posts on Twitter & Instagram

The impact of X Games takeover and Ski-Thru activation reached far beyond the on-site visitors, using the pop-up as the foundation for custom content distributed across channels, including on-air.

Outstanding results from Wendy’s most daring campaign yet include:

- More on-site engagement than any other advertiser activating at X Games this year

o #1 Participation of all brands @59%

o #1 Company that did the most to enhance the experience - 31% of vote

- Participation resonated with consumers, showing positive…

o Consideration @ 64% (68% above average)

o Favorability @ 56% (35% above average)

o Opinion @ 72% (41% above average)

- Wendy’s served almost 11K units of product on-site but through total campaign impressions were able to increase exposure beyond the on-site crowd by 1700x

- Campaign delivered over $518K in earned social media value, especially the Jeep collaboration video which resulted in 185K organic views