Wendy’s: Wendy’s Takes on Breakfast — You Up For This?

Six months before Wendy’s was set to debut the chain’s first breakfast menu, we teased America in @Wendy’s savvy social style — asking “You Up For This?” — letting media speculate and putting the competition on notice.

Shortly before the March breakfast launch in restaurants nationwide, @Wendy’s boldly called out McDonald’s by name, tweeting “Yeah, we wouldn’t wake up for your breakfast either.” Within hours, social media lit up, but we saved our best PR move for last. Little did our competition know, but Wendy’s had lined up former McDonald’s head chef Mike Haracz to sample every new breakfast item on Wendy’s menu and provide his honest assessment in a short video series. Not only did he heartily endorse the new menu, he tweeted, “Holy Sh*t! The clown is not gonna be happy.”

The audacious stunt drew immediate response on Twitter, firing up Wendy’s fans to spread the word organically. Now that the entire world wanted a first bite of Wendy’s breakfast, we enlisted media and food influencers to attend a “First Taste” event. The campaign led to 3.7 billion impressions and 3,500+ media stories, including CNBC, USA Today, CNN, Delish, Best Products, Eat This Not That, Today.com, Cheddar.com, AdAge and AdWeek. And within the first week, restaurant sales rose by 15% — confirming that America is indeed up for Wendy’s breakfast!