Arby's To Run Apology Ad After It Forgot Its Promise To Pepsi
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
New ad takes a humorous approach to remind customers that it has “the meats” and “Pepsi”.
In the drive to bring in the customers, restaurants are gearing up their advertising campaigns, shifting menu items to highlight innovative offerings, and using Omni-channel targeting to win over new diners. And while this is successful, as Arby’s has demonstrated, sometimes it distracts from existing commitments.
Arby’s has recently focused on a re-launch of the Brand with the tag line “We have the meats!” The ads, with their focus on the new cuts, change the standard layout of menu items that include meal combos featuring drinks. Arby’s has a contractual agreement with Pepsi to feature the soft drink in at least two ad spots a year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But in their excitement over “the meats,” the contract with Pepsi simply slipped everybody’s minds, according to Rob Lynch, chief marketing officer and brand president of Arby’s. And Pepsi issued a friendly reminder to Arby’s in October that they were obligated to feature the soft drink in one more ad for the year. Turns out, it’s not all about the meats.
So Arby’s turned to Fallon, a Minneapolis-based advertising agency owned by Publicis to solve the dilemma. However, the last ad for the year was already in the can. Lynch explained to the Wall Street Journal, “Their ads are kind of like their babies. To go in after we shot them and shoehorn something in is like the worst client move you could ever make.”
But Fallon responded with an epic apology ad poking fun at Arby’s blunder: a full 30 second shot of a pint of Pepsi as Ving Rhames explains the error, finishing with the tag line “Arby’s. We have Pepsi.”
Pepsi has responded well to the apology ad, and Robert Rios, Chief marketing officer for PepsiCo’s food service division said in a statement that “We applaud Arby’s unconventional approach to marketing and when they came to us with this idea, we thought it would be a fun, creative way to highlight our partnership.”
According to the Huffington Post, Arby’s also issued an apologetic tweet on December 1, stating “Our bad, @Pepsi. Forgive us? Youtu.be/Jv5StAv77Dg.” Arby’s also posted a note that said “We love you Pepsi. You’re like a meat to us,” with the video on YouTube.
"The idea was to stay consistent with the rest of the Arby's work -- keep it simple, real and focused on the product ... even if it's not exactly a sandwich. It's 24 seconds of a Pepsi just sitting there," Matt Heath, of the Fallon ad agency, told HuffPost. "It'd be hard to mess that one up. We're excited about it."
The ad will run between December 7 and December 13 in markets in Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles.
The full ad is featured here.