Carl’s Jr. sister brand Hardee’s has reportedly partnered with a team led by Arnold for its upcoming brand campaign after working with Havas since the beginning of this year. The Carl’s Jr. brand itself will continue working with Havas, and all of the larger CKE account remains with the Havas family.
UPDATE: A Havas spokesperson disputed language in an earlier version of this post characterizing the Arnold work as a shift moving that portion of the business away from Havas.
Havas launched its first work for Carl’s Jr. back in February, which featured voiceover from advertising staple Matthew McConaughey.
The agency won creative on Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s following a review launched around a year ago. Of course, Carl’s Jr. previously worked with 72andSunny for around six years, which pivoted the brand away from its previous hyper-sexualized (some would say sexist) approach prior to the burger chain reviewing its creative and digital accounts.
As the company’s now-former CEO Andrew Puzder told Fox Business in early 2017, sexy spots just aren’t as effective anymore because the kids these days can get all that on the internet, and they’re “more interested in where your beef is from,” plus some trippy visuals.
A recent campaign for the brand focuses on the “Condimeats” featured in its Pastrami Thickburger.