Marketing

A&W plays up 1980s marketing snafu with 3/9-pound burger

Back in the 1980s, A&W tried to go toe-to-toe with McDonald's Quarter Pounder. The results were hilariously disappointing. Liz Bazner, A&W's senior director of marketing, explains how getting Americans to understand a 1/3-pound burger is bigger than a Quarter Pounder became tricky business.

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November 1, 2021 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Marketing can be a tricky game.

Back in the 1980s, Lexington, Kentucky-based A&W went head-to-head with McDonald's over the company's Quarter Pounder, but it backfired.

QSRweb reached out to Liz Bazner, A&W's senior director of marketing, to talk about the '80s snafu and how the brand is cashing in on their bigger burger with the help of marketing firm Cornett.

Q: Tell us a little about the 1980s marketing mishap. It seems to come back up in social media every few months.

A:Unfortunately, this is a true story: in the late '80s, when McDonald's was heavily advertising their quarter pound burgers, A&W decided to focus on their double burgers, which were (and still are) 1/3 pound each. It seemed like a natural point of differentiation and a way to promote a quality message since A&W's burgers were bigger than the competition. The marketing team had created a full "Third's the Word" campaign that included a variety of print and TV assets and felt really confident that they would give A&W an advantage over other burger QSRs.

Unfortunately, the campaign had to be pulled almost immediately. The ads all featured fractions, and the audience didn't understand that 1/3 pound is larger than 1/4 pound because four is a bigger number than three. In the years since we've received a ton of inquiries about the failed campaign. People can't believe that Americans were so collectively bad at math that they couldn't grasp the concept of a larger fraction. In the past few years, we've been contacted by fans, industry professionals and even marketing students who want to verify that it actually happened. There are a number of articles and memes that pop up on social media and Reddit that get shared quite a bit. Up until now we really haven't been proactive in controlling the message, but we feel like it's time to have a little bit of fun with our own history.

Q: What was the impetus behind the 3/9 burger rebranding?

A: Our double burgers are still 1/3 pound, which we feature on all of our merchandising materials. The idea for our current campaign was to take a different approach by switching the message to 3/9, since nine is clearly larger than four. We love using our mascot whenever possible, especially in our more irreverent campaigns. The past few years have been tough for a lot of people and we're all exposed to a lot of negative news, so it felt like a good time to inject a little bit of humor and levity where we can.

Q:On what kind of marketing materials will we find the 3/9 lb. Burger?

A: It's almost entirely a digital campaign. We only produced a few physical merchandising pieces that were featured at one of our company restaurants. Our last LTO of the year features our Mushroom Onion Melt and our Bacon Double Cheeseburger, which are both 1/3-pound doubles, and we did toy with the idea of listing them as 3/9-pound burgers on our menus. While we thought it might be funny to have our guests asking about our "special 3/9 lb" burgers, we didn't want to put extra pressure on our team members or slow down our order times unnecessarily. Ultimately, we decided that the internet was the best place to keep the joke going.

Q: Tell us about your partnership with Cornett. What role did they play in the rebranding?

A: We've worked with Cornett for a number of years. They're great partners of ours and we love that they're also based in Lexington, Kentucky, where our headquarters are located. Cornett currently produces all of our sales event materials, and we've also done some playful campaigns with them in the past. We've brainstormed ways to play up the 1/3-pound story in the past but really fell in love with the 3/9 approach and it's been really exciting to see it come to life over the past few days.

Q: You came out with a line of clothing to celebrate cheese curds' 'cheddar weather' and other A&W specialties. We loved that! What was the idea behind it?

A: This was another really fun execution. Our Cheese Curds are one of our most popular staple menu items, and we're always looking for ways to get fans and cheese lovers talking about the product. Hot Girl Summer and Sweater Weather seem to have worked their way into our collective lexicon, and we thought it was hilarious to try and own the fall with Cheddar Weather. We think the product's good enough to own an entire season and give our curd fans something to look forward to every year. The exclusive merch line is our first Cheddar Weather launch but we're already thinking of ways to bring it back with a new approach in 2022.

Q:A&W's marketing game seems to be on point. How important is marketing to A&W?

A:Marketing's hugely important for us. We know brand awareness is crucial for the success of our franchise. It's also a really fun time to be working in QSR marketing specifically. Brands are bringing such a creative approach to new products and campaigns. The majority of our "traditional" marketing happens at the local level in terms of billboards, print ads and value messaging, but our national marketing support is almost entirely digital. These irreverent/ whimsical campaigns also serve a PR function. We think it's much more interesting to create content that's funny and shareable over just sending out a release and hoping it gets picked up.

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
 
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living. 

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