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Source: Ad Age
When it comes to fast-feeders, the quirky viral video has largely been the domain of Burger King. But square-burger marketer Wendy’s is trying to get the buzz headed its way with a new video called “Crazy Lettuce.”
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…Wendy’s worked with Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York, on the video…
…The work is its first effort in the space and a stark departure for the chain…
So far, results for the film are mixed. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive on MySpace, where it has received 82,000 views, and heavily negative on YouTube, where it picked up about 16,000.
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Mr. DeBellis said it’s difficult to set a bar for success for “Crazy Lettuce,” which was done for $25,000, while the average TV commercial costs more than $300,000.
Wendy’s could use a home run. Second-quarter net income fell 32% on higher commodity costs and sluggish sales. Same-store sales were up only 0.1% at company-owned restaurants, and 1.1% at franchised locations.
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1335 days ago
[...] Related: Wendy’s Goes Viral with Crazy Lettuce Video, Family Fights to Exhume Wendy’s Founder Dave [...]
Felicia:
I love the Gary Busey spots. He is the perfect guy for viral video because he really seems authentically deranged. What other famous actor would sing the GotVMail song with that beauty and grace.
That’s the downfall of the Wendy’s spot: authenticity. It’s a fake of a homemade video, and I think the phoniness is why it’s pannedon YouTube.
From a marketing standpoint, though, Wendy’s has a big advantage in that it’s focused on the product. All I know about GotVMail after watching 5 videos is that they wrote a big check to Gary Busey and paid their creative team to have fun with their ad budget.
I’m not convinced this will go the distance. Virals usually have some common pop-culture denominator. PLus I’m not sure this is funny enough. The last video I really like was the Gary Busey advice videos done for Gotvmail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_1sgcSAkc
Viral videos are at their best when they can adequately distract you from your workday for a few minutes.