Cloudy With a Chance of Spice: Bringing Back Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Nuggets
Introduction
It’s safe to say all businesses aim to reach the highest level of success imaginable. One could argue that a critical pillar in attaining success is the ability to adapt to change. Over the years, we can see any given brand’s shift in products or offerings, advertising campaigns, target audiences and/or logo designs. The success of these changes can sometimes be all it takes to make it or break it.
Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, born in Ohio by Dave Thomas in 1969, brought in nearly 10-billion dollars in 2019. (Taylor, 2020). This multi-billion-dollar company shifted to a more friendly and modern logo in 2013 and, in 2017, the company hit the ground running with a sassy, witty and “beefy” Twitter presence. Its rich history of home-run tweets filled with sarcasm and quick punchlines helped gain the company 3.8 million followers on the platform. For comparison, Chick-fil-A, which brought in nearly than 12-billion dollars in sales in 2019 currently stands at 1.1 million followers on Twitter (Taylor, 2020). The company experienced a more than 126% follower growth rate in 2017. [Mazzola, 2017].
However, also in 2017, Wendy’s made an egregious error. The company silently pulled one of its coveted and arguably best offerings off its menu — the spicy chicken nuggets. When customers caught wind of the change, they were outraged. Twitter exploded with users comparing the company’s decision to “a sad day in human history,” and a “broken heart” (Nelson, 2017). A Change.Org petition was even created to put the nugget’s back on the menu.
Fast forward to Saturday, May 4, 2019, ten minutes before 1:00 in the afternoon. A 166 character-count tweet from music artist Chance the Rapper brought the nuggets back from the dead…all in a matter of hours.
Campaign
What transpired as a direct result of Chance the Rapper’s impromptu tweet may arguably be the shortest, spontaneous marketing campaign that has ever existed. The tweet read:
“Positive affirmations for today: I WILL have a good day, I WILL succeed today, Wendy’s WILL bring back spicy nuggets at some point please please Lord let it be today.”
Wendy’s famous social media managers took the bait and responded within 23 minutes:
“It won’t be today, but there’s always a chance”
The exchange exploded with users echoing the same thoughts as the rap artist. It wasn’t hard to see the traction and attention this thread was receiving, and, not even four hours later, Wendy’s blasted another tweet that read:
“Ya’ll keep asking so here’s your chance. The people in charge say if you guys can get our tweet (this one right here) to 2 Million likes, they will bring SPICY CHICKEN NUGGETS BACK. Let’s freakin’ do this!”
Like clockwork, within seconds the tweet spread like wildfire with hundreds of thousands of Twitter users liking the tweet. Wendy’s immediately noticed the overwhelming response and fifteen minutes later tweeted:
“Or maybe it will be today…we struck a deal with the boss finally, but it’s gonna take some work”
One user even created a Twitter account just so she could participate in the campaign to bring back the famous nuggets.
As the likes kept climbing, Wendy’s continued replying to users on the thread with its recognizable and sarcastic tone all over the place.
The tweet reached 2.1 million likes in less than 48 hours (Wida, 2019). Even Wendy’s was shocked:
“THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Spicy Chicken Nuggets are coming back! Ya’ll are crazy! That took like a day and a half! WHAT?! We don’t know when yet, gotta figure it out, but soon, and ok, LOSING IT RIGHT NOW THIS IS AMAZING!!”
The majority of support for the spicy nuggets were from young people, in part because of Chance the Rapper’s following, as well as those who follow Wendy’s Twitter page. Twitter generally skews younger, in fact, as of February 2021, 42% of Twitter users were between the ages of 18 to 29 (Tankovska, 2021).
The campaign originated and concluded on Twitter; however, the end result of the campaign was posted on Facebook and Instagram. While the number of engagements were certainly high on these other two platforms, Twitter took the cake.
As for when the spicy nuggets would officially relaunch, the chain said it was working out the details. However, throughout the course of the next couple of months, Wendy’s would drop little clues inside its sassy tweets to keep the love for the nuggets alive.
The shortened link took users to a calendar invite for “lunch” for a “couple million” to get together. They just wanted to throw “a little nugget” out there.
Reach and Engagement
This chart represents the engagement on Wendy’s tweets prior to and post the spicy chicken nugget tweet. The engagement during April 28 through May 1, 2019 was barely identifiable on the chart compared to the days after the campaign poll.
The company posts between two and four tweets a day. There are some days where the company doesn’t tweet, or there are tweets that appear to be pre-scheduled advertisements. Out of these five dates, the company was the most active with four tweets on the day of the spicy nugget campaign.
Results
The spicy chicken nuggets returned to Wendy’s menus three months later on August 12, 2019. (It was originally scheduled to return on August 19.) The company threw in another perk by giving away two million spicy nuggets to customers who ordered a Wendy’s meal on the popular food delivery service, DoorDash, during that week (Tuchscherer, 2019). Additionally, the hamburger chain’s revenue rose by more than 9% during the July-September 2019 quarter as a direct result of the spicy chicken nuggets comeback (Williams, 2019). Today, Wendy’s spicy chicken nuggets are the fifth most ordered item on the menu [Ellis, 2020].
What Went Wrong
The fast-food giant handled the impulsive campaign exceedingly well and a quick trip to Wendy’s Twitter page can verify. However, there is always room for improvement. Chance the Rapper’s initial tweet, which effectively launched this campaign, happened three months before the chicken nuggets were finally available for purchase. The longer it takes from the time a campaign launches to the actual product, service or offering to become available can be detrimental to the overall company and success of a campaign. Brands run the risk of consumers losing interest, forgetting or moving on. If it was feasible, bringing the spicy nuggets back within a month instead of three months after Wendy’s received two-million likes, may have increased the company’s profits and traffic. Again, it may not have been logistically possible to get the product on board any quicker.
Additionally, on August 12, 2019 when the nuggets became available, not all Wendy’s locations carried them yet. (Anecdotally, I tried to buy them on August 12 at a location in Michigan and was met with disappointing news but, a few days later, they became available!) A simple disclaimer about it being available in all stores by the end of the week, for example, may have prevented customer disappointment.
Not surprisingly, the campaign received the most engagement on Twitter as well as the tweet that persuaded users to like and share the post.
Discussion
This campaign can absolutely be characterized as a success. Twitter housed this campaign and proved to be the perfect outlet. By its nature, Twitter works as well as a back-and-forth thread-like channel with a limited number of characters. Wendy’s has made a name for itself as a Twitter powerhouse, responding to messages at lightning speed while also poking fun and causing “beef” with its competitors.
There are two additional items to this campaign that are worth mentioning. What Wendy’s essentially did was create a focus group in an instant and for free. The company used this tweet as a poll to determine whether the demand for the spicy chicken nuggets was there and if it would be in the best interest of the company financially, to bring them back.
Additionally, this multi-billion-dollar brand with an array of executives discussed the idea, decided it was worth it and feasible, suggested doing a Twitter poll and delivered a promise all within a matter of hours. That in and of itself speaks volumes. It may be assumed that many robust conglomerates operate within the confines of some red tape which could mean that initiatives take weeks or months to get off the ground.
Wendy’s makes clear that it values its employees. When asked at an advertising event how many reviews the company’s social media tweets and posts go through, Wendy’s Chief Concept and Marketing Officer said “zero” [Cheng, 2018]. This effectively gives the social media team the autonomy and empowerment to make decisions with trust and accountability should it be the wrong choice.
It’s unclear whether Chance the Rapper knew Wendy’s social media reputation and therefore chose to initiate the tweet on the platform, or whether he just took a shot in the dark to see where it landed. However, he did not specifically tag @Wendys in his first tweet, which means Wendy’s social media team either directly follows the artist or they utilize programs to monitor all mentions of the Wendy’s name and brand on social media.
In addition to the increase in revenue, the company’s Twitter following also increased dramatically. According to a social media tracking website, on May 4, 2019 Wendy’s had 3,082,539 Twitter followers. This was the same day that the campaign launched. By May 9, 2019 it had increased to 3,141,644 — a nearly 60,000-follower increase in five days. The trend kept continuing to today’s total of 3.8 million.
Conclusion
It cannot be overstated that responding to consumers on social media is critical for a brand to succeed on a platform. Regardless of if that platform is Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or a niche site, it’s paramount. Even more crucial is responding timely. Wendy’s waited 23 minutes after Chance the Rapper’s tweet to write an initial response even though the company didn’t have a solid answer, didn’t know if bringing the item back was even a possibility and did not even begin to entertain the notion of starting a Twitter campaign. The company’s immediate response and the time at which they responded set the foundation for the campaign to launch and become successful.
Moreover, it’s apparent that Wendy’s and its leadership team are doing something right by not only giving autonomy to its social media managers, but by making executive decisions quickly. In this case, it took four hours to bring an item back to the menu (something that costs a business time, money and planning) because one 205-character tweet gained two million likes.
References
· Merevick, T. (2017, March 1). Say Goodbye To Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Nuggets. Thrillest. Thrillest.com. https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/wendys-is-phasing-out-spicy-chicken-nuggets
· Nelson, D. (2019, May 5). Spicy Chicken Nuggets Will Come Back To Wendy’s Because Chance the Rapper Made A Wish. Thrillest. Thrillest.com. https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/wendys-spicy-chicken-nuggets-chance-the-rapper
· Mazzola, A. (2017, May 17). Wendy’s Shows It’s Social Media Chops In The Epic Return Of Spicy Chicken Nuggets. Flackable. Flackable.com. https://flackable.com/blog/wendys-shows-its-social-media-chops-in-the-epic-return-of-spicy-chicken-nuggets
· Taylor, K. (2020, May 14). Chick-fil-A Is The Third-Largest Fast-Food Chain In America, And That Should Terrify Wendy’s And Burger King. Insider. BusinessInsider.com. https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-third-largest-fast-food-chain-us-sales-2020-5
· Tuchscherer, R. (2019, June 25). Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Nuggets Return And The Chain Is Giving Away 2 Million Free Nuggets. USA Today. USAToday.com.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/25/wendys-spicy-chicken-nuggets-back-thanks-chance-rapper/1561083001/
· Williams, M. (2019, November 6). Spicy Chicken Nuggets Drive Wendy’s Third Quarter Profit. The Columbus Dispatch. Dispatch.com.
https://www.dispatch.com/business/20191106/spicy-chicken-nuggets-drive-wendys-third-quarter-profit
· Tankovska, H. (2021, April 14). Percentage of U.S. Adults Who Use Twitter As Of February 2021, By Age Group. Statista. Statista.com.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/265647/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-twitter-by-age-group/
· Wida, E. (2019, May 6). After Disappearing For 2 Years, Spicy Chicken Nuggets Are Coming Back To Wendy’s. Today. Today.com. https://www.today.com/food/wendy-s-bringing-back-popular-item-pretty-hilarious-reason-t153600
· Ellis, K. (2020, September 16). Popular Wendy’s Menu Items, Ranked Worst To Best. Mashed. Mashed.com. https://www.mashed.com/247973/popular-wendys-menu-items-ranked-worst-to-best/