Wendy's Updating Restaurant Brand To Invite More Millennial Customers
By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer
In its last conference call, Wendy’s announced it will transform and reinvigorate the brand to give more appeal to millennial customers and strengthen relevance with the boomer generation in effort to drive brand, increase customer count, sales, and profit growth.
Millennial customers, between the ages of 24-37 years old, consist of 25 percent of total quick service restaurant traffic, while the baby boomer generation, 50 years plus, accounts for a larger percentage of 33 percent. By incorporating new marketing and product strategies, Wendy’s focus is on increasing the traffic of younger consumers to its restaurants, while maintaining strong numbers of customers from Generation X and Baby Boomer eras.
Wendy’s broadcast TV advertisement, featuring 28-year old Morgan Smith Goodwin, known as the character “Red” is well accepted among all census. Wendy’s recognizes the rapid growth in media evolution and its relevance in the millennial generation; the company is incorporating digital marketing in product advertising through sources including, Facebook, Twitter, and digital promotions. Customer tweets and Facebook posts about Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger are combined into lyrics for famous artists to sing. Wendy’s Tuscan Chicken on Ciabatta features a movie trailer, allowing for customers to make captions on clips through Wendy’s social media sites, winning captions will be used in the film, giving customers the chance to say “I was a writer on that.” “Our goal is to surround consumers with 360-degree marketing messages beyond TV, and we have become leaders in social media, mobile marketing and digital promotions,” said David D. Popular, Former Director of Investor Relations and Financial Communications. Wendy’s.
Wendy’s provides customers with mobile payment and ordering options, available in 85 percent of Wendy’s U.S restaurants. The My Wendy’s app grants customers with the convenience of making customized orders directly from IPhone to restaurant, viewing nutritional information, and receiving special promos. The testing of ordering trends will help to improve Wendy’s services.
Re-imaging of Wendy’s restaurants in 2012 showed impressive growth in sales by 25 percent—dining room sales increased 110 percent, carry out by 55 percent and drive through sales were up by 15 percent. In 2013, Wendy’s invested over $10 million toward reimaging its 200 restaurants in 2013, totaling to 600 by 2015. The newly designed restaurants include features that are especially relatable and welcoming to millennial customers — touchscreen drink machines consisting of 129 regular and low calorie drinks to choose from, a Wi-Fi bar, barstool chairs and lounging areas, bold new restaurant logo, new packaging, and pleasant restaurant staff. With millennials having a more globally diverse flavor preference compared to other generations, showing more interest in the local food movement, and eating natural, Wendy’s created innovative menu items such as the new Asian Cashew Chicken Salad and our BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad to satisfy the new-age of health conscious customers.
Poplar states, “All of these initiatives are directed at growth, and growing North American same-restaurant sales has been and will continue to be the foundation of our growth strategy.”