How some food brands are rethinking customer retention strategies

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the fast-food chain Wendy’s—and you’ve probably also munched on a Baconator or slurped down a Frosty.

That doesn’t mean Wendy’s can rest on its laurels, according to Carl Loredo, Wendy’s global CMO.

“The more dollars you have, the higher likelihood you can have to get lazy,” he said on Tuesday at Advertising Week New York.

Wendy’s isn’t the only major brand seeking new marketing strategies to help it maintain market share, especially as the pandemic and inflation have reshaped consumer behavior. Hershey’s also took to the stage to talk about how it keeps consumers coming back and appeals to more demographics.

Delivery, please: One major factor Wendy’s had to shape its marketing around was the effects of the pandemic on consumer behavior. Wendy’s, which “had been known as the queen of late night,” saw less late-night foot traffic due to the pandemic, Loredo said. As a result, Wendy’s has leaned into partnerships with food-delivery giants like UberEats and DoorDash in an effort to increase digital delivery.

Vinny Rinaldi, US head of media and analytics at The Hershey Company, has also leaned into delivery, particularly to target the younger consumer set. While historically, a lot of Hershey’s purchases were made impulsively at places like gas stations or drug stores, Gen Z’s shopping habits are different.

Rinaldi said that his Gen Z cousins “sit in their basement for four hours and play video games and order everything on DoorDash or UberEats, and they don’t move.”

“How do you show up for that four-hour gaming moment?” he said. “They’re never going to be at the store, but they’re sure as heck ordering a lot of food.”

Face the competition: Wendy’s position as one of the bigger fast-food purveyors presents some unique marketing challenges. Given that its competitors often run similar promotions for similar products, “misattribution is a giant challenge within QSR, because we all sell hamburgers,” Loredo said.

“There’s a lot of two-for-five and two-for-six offers out there, and there’s someone that is mostly yellow that…advertise[s] a lot more than us,” he said, in a not-so-subtle reference to McDonald’s.

House of brands: At Hershey’s, marketing the company’s various products to different consumers requires careful consideration, especially since brands like Reese’s offer different products for consumers with different tastes and dietary restrictions.

“If you look at [categories like] zero-sugar and plant-based, those are Reese’s and Hershey’s bars,” Rinaldi said. “How do you play the core messaging…to the consumer that has either a reason for needing zero-sugar or just wants to try something different?”

Find someone new: Wendy’s recently dug into customers demographics in an effort to identify segments that could have future growth potential. For example, Loredo noted that people working graveyard shifts are often looking for food late at night, “and their options late at night were really sorry food.”

“We want to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got your back all the time and always,” he explained, “You just got done working your tail off; we’d love to serve you a great Wendy’s cheeseburger.”