A child’s love for Wendy’s scrawled out in hand-drawn pictures has come to life as the newest promotion by the fast-food brand that coined the iconic “Where’s the Beef?” campaign slogan of the 1980s.
The ad, which is written, storyboarded and directed by Julien Jantos—whose mother shared it with the brand through Twitter—is called “The Burger.” It tells the story of why Jantos likes Dave’s Single Burgers, the menu choice named after the founder of the business, Dave Thomas.
“The meat is meaty,” declares Jantos in one scene, which appears in between pictures that were filmed to recreate the images he sketched out. Wendy’s released a side-by-side comparison of Jantos’ original art and the finished ad over Twitter.
Carl Loredo, chief marketing officer at Wendy’s, said it was a “one-of-a-kind advertising” opportunity to channel a customer’s love of the company.
“Clearly, he is wise beyond his years and has excellent taste—so we wanted to celebrate that in a uniquely Wendy’s way,” Loredo said. “Our team will tell you it was one of our favorite creative challenges as we quickly mobilized to spotlight his artistic brand creation vision and bring his passion to life.”
Loredo said the beauty of the ad was in using one of its “biggest fans” to boast about the product, and the brand’s ability to listen to customers, even young ones. “It’s why our fans know they can count on us to be the most responsive brand on Twitter, in the restaurant and anywhere, anyway they want to connect with us,” he said.
The brand’s retained agency of record, VMLY&R, will be able to rest easy having produced a campaign to promote the U.K. return of Wendy’s with its first restaurant opening 20 years after pulling out of the region.
