Client: Wendy’s

Campaign: Product launch for Wendy’s Garam Masala flavored Chicken Sandwich with mint chutney.

The Problem: Consumers don’t think of Wendy’s when they think of challenging their palette. 

Background: Over the past two years, the conversation around chicken sandwiches had been a hotly contested one thanks to Popeyes and Chick-Fil-A. Competitor’s hands were forced into contributing to the conversation with dozens of parodies of chicken sandwiches entering the market. Despite Wendy’s inventing the chicken sandwich in the nineties, they mostly remained on the sidelines for the entirety of it.

Coinciding with this, it was uncovered that fast food is still very popular with younger consumers due to its affordability, convenience, and comfort. It was also revealed that non-western flavors, such as Indian , greatly appealed to those polled who did not conform to gender binaries in the survey, or other traditional labels when it came to profession. This overlapped overwhelmingly with the current popular discourse around fluidity, in spite of binary, and labels.

Insight: A greater discourse around fluidity has already begun.  

Strategy: Demonstrate Wendy’s as a complex and fluid brand given their past, and future introduction of the Masala Chicken Sandwich.

Big Idea: It feels good to be complex.