Wendy's "Year of the Burger"
A burger making contest, taste tour & more - for the love of a burger that doesn't cut corners.
What happened in the 2007-2010 era when the client says “yes” to every idea the team throws up on the board? An immersive Flash website with a sweepstakes, photo gallery, video, blog, music mixer, “create your own” tools, and a tour truck. Before the social media boom hit, Wendy’s asked us to create a digital experience that got people excited about their fresh, never frozen burgers like never before. We also needed to keep them engaged and entertained all year long.
The site was centered on the ‘Build Wendy’s New Burger,’ tool and contest. The winner took home $25,000 and his or her burger would appear on the Wendy’s menu.
Surrounding the contest were daily “Burgers for a year” winners, a music mixing tool made from burger-making sounds, and a photo gallery with shots from the nationwide burger tour. Another popular part of the site was the “Create Your Own Wendy” tool, which let users get creative with pieces and parts to make their vision of Wendy come true.
The site had an average surf time of about 20 minutes, delivered hundreds of daily “Burgers for a Year” gift cards and received thousands of Burger Build entries/votes.
The campaign also toured 20 cities across the U.S., handing out fresh burgers and testing attendees’ burger IQ for a chance to win T-shirts and a one-of-a-kind magic burger 8-ball. (It revealed replies like “Sounds Sizzling” and “That’s Juicy!”) This was also the kickoff for the "red wig" of elightenment national campaign.
My Specific Contributions:
Wrote all web, PR and promotional content
Wrote speech material for experiential events
Helped to develop the “Burger Building” tool, including user flow and messaging
Acted as point-person for all updates, QA and messaging needs
Worked closely with art directors and the interactive team in creative development
Assisted with promotional video creation and sound recordings for the music mixer tool
Was a thought leader in ideation and execution
Gold ADDY winner – ’08 Interactive/Website Promotion.
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