News

Arby’s new ad campaign lightens the mood

February 28, 2011

Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. continues to embrace an aggressive turnaround plan developed last year to boost sales and profits. The latest effort entails a new integrated marketing and advertising campaign around the tagline: “Arby’s. It’s Good Mood Food.”

The campaign was created with BBDO-New York, which was tapped as Arby’s agency of record in December. 

The new message aims to bring life to the brand’s positioning “Exciting tastes you can feel good about … every day.” Additional campaign elements include:

• Satirical national television ads, featuring a character named R.B., who helps seemingly opposite couples – a snowboarder and a skier, a dog owner and a cat owner and a cowboy and a city slicker – find common ground over Arby's food. R.B. is a nod to the Raffel Brothers, who founded Arby's in 1964.
• Arby's Facebook page has been transformed to reflect the campaign and spread the good mood. When Facebook users click on the “Like” icon on the Arby's page from through March 4, they will receive a $1 off coupon to try Arby's new Angus Three Cheese & Bacon Sandwich for themselves.
• National television spots and billboards will air on programs including American Idol, Raising Hope, The Bachelor, Desperate Housewives, Fringe, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, and a live in-show commercial during Jimmy Kimmel Live!
• To prepare for the campaign, Arby's is hosting pep rallies and training sessions for restaurant teams throughout the United States. Arby's will also bring the campaign to life in its restaurants through signage, menu boards, packaging and more.

“This campaign is focused on our target audience, Balance Seekers, who want and need to eat fast food because of their busy lifestyles, but do not want to feel guilty about eating it. They're telling us that Arby's has something over other fast food restaurants – a balance of higher quality, more wholesome food that they can feel good about eating,” said Steve Davis, chief marketing officer, Arby's Restaurant Group Inc.

To coincide with the new campaign, Arby’s has introduced the new Angus Three Cheese & Bacon Sandwich, the chain’s first premium Angus beef offering. The sandwich pairs oven-roasted, thinly sliced Angus beef with Swiss and Cheddar cheeses, parmesan peppercorn ranch sauce and pepper bacon served on a toasted, Italian-style roll.

Also, Arby's has introduced a new foodie blog, that will be penned by Brian Kolodziej, vice president of product development. Kolodziej, a professional chef who has worked at fine dining and casual restaurants, will share a behind-the-scenes look in the kitchen at Arby's, food trends and more.

Part of the turnaround plan

Arby’s initiated a turnaround plan last year, when Roland Smith, president and CEO of Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, said the goal was to improve customer traffic and sales. At the time, the chain’s systemwide comps in North America were down almost 9 percent.

The turnaround plan yielded a slow and steady incline at Arby’s throughout 2010, including a 2.9 percent increase in company-operated same-store sales in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Despite these bright spots, however, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group announced its intention to sell the Arby’s brand in January so it could focus solely on Wendy’s. There have been no updates on this development.

Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. is based in Atlanta and includes more than 3,500 units.