Storyboard: Arby's Hat Trick

Arby's goes back to its roots to find an image for its future.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 9/1/2005

It was odd enough when Arby’s chose an oven mitt voiced by Tom Arnold as the public face for the struggling QSR chain’s re-branding efforts. Now, less than three years later, that face is...a hat. A headless hat.

“We were looking at the brand heritage and realized that they do not need a character. The thing they own is this hat, and that has not been utilized as fully as it could be,” says Alex Gellert, partner and CEO of Merkley + Partners, the New York-based advertising agency that won the Arby’s account in October 2004. “Nobody had taken this great icon and done something with it.”

That icon is the red cowboy hat that has been part of the Arby’s logo for its 41-year history. It has been incorporated into other ad campaigns, including the oven mitt (Chain Leader, May 2003), but the hat had never been the image on which the chain wanted to hang its brand.

Cast in a New Light
In the new “I’m Thinking Arby’s” campaign, the hat becomes a light-bulb-like image popping up above the heads of customers who have a hankering for a roast-beef sandwich or other classic Arby’s fare.

Merkley + Partners took over the $103 million account after the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based chain ended its 14-year run with Southfield, Mich.-based Doner Advertising. The ad-agency switch signaled that Arby’s was ready to do something completely different, says Debra Mager, senior vice president of brand communications for Arby’s Franchise Association.

“This was a great marriage of the Arby’s hat heritage and the revitalization of the brand. We felt like it was a big enough idea that we could take it and have a strong future. This is not just a commercial,” she says.

Since April Arby’s has been running some 30 different television spots featuring limited-time menu promotions and new products including an expansion of the Market Fresh Wraps line and an all-natural chicken item, plus test-market ads and other marketing initiatives. The hat is central to all the ads, which highlight diners thinking about Arby’s, even when they are not in the restaurant.

In one, a Little League player cannot focus on his baseball game because he has an Arby’s hat under his batter’s helmet. In another, a man comes home from work hungry, and by looking at the hat over his head in a mirror, he realizes he wants Arby’s for dinner. In a third, a groom’s hunger pains result in the hat appearing in all his wedding photos.

Under the Hat
Gellert and Mager emphasize that these are not just ads with a hat graphic. The campaign, which is geared toward “heavy fast-food users,” rather than a certain age or gender demographic, is part of an overall re-branding effort to emphasize Arby’s heritage in offering products other than burgers and to promote what it considers its higher-end ingredients such as pepper bacon and aged cheddar cheese.

“In the end, what we wanted is for the hat to be an icon for that craving that people get for a certain kind of food,” Gellert explains. This strategy allows the food to remain the star of the campaign, rather than a character, like the oven mitt, which some critics said stole the roast beef’s thunder.

“We are still focused on food as the hero, but there’s now a lot more humanity,” Mager adds.

For the 12 months ending in March, Arby’s spent $103 million on advertising, including radio, billboards, television and the Internet, according to New York-based TNS Media Intelligence. This was a 3 percent increase over the previous 12 months, and a pace Arby’s expects to maintain through the year.

The new campaign is indicative of the increasing competition Arby’s is facing. Sandwich chains like Blimpie and Subway consider Arby’s Market Fresh sandwich line direct competition, while the burger chains have long considered Arby’s among those concepts they want to beat. In 2004, Arby’s company-owned stores saw same-store sales rise just 1 percent, while franchised-store sales increased 4 percent.

The re-branding also comes as publicly held corporate parent Triarc Cos. Inc. acquired its largest franchisee, RTM, and considers spinning off its nonrestaurant operations, a move that would allow the restaurant business to be renamed “Arby’s.”

Thinking Big
Despite the uncertainty in the stock market and in the competitive QSR category—or perhaps because of it—Arby’s has put all its marketing eggs in one basket, or, in this case, hat. The hat graphic is the focal point on new packaging and point-of-purchase materials systemwide, while the oven mitt will only continue on Arby’s charitable projects and kids’ meals.

Mager feels the hat has versatility that will allow it to be part of the concept’s brand efforts for several years. She cannot yet quantify the success of the ads, but says anecdotally diners are responding well and are requesting hat-emblazoned merchandise.

“The phrase ‘I’m thinking Arby’s’ is culturally part of the vernacular,” she says. “It has endless possibilities for brand buzz and guerilla marketing.”

“I'm thinking Arby's ” Length: 30 seconds
1. Woman: Our wedding pictures finally came! Man: Oh, good.	2. Woman: Ahwww...
3. Woman: Wait, what is this?	4. Woman: David, our pictures, they’re ruined!
5. Man: I told you I was hungry.	6. Voice-Over: When you’ve got Arby’s on the mind, it’s hard to hide. Especially the Arby’s Market Fresh Turkey Ranch and Bacon.
7. We’re talking roast turkey, creamy Ranch spread and thick-cut pepper bacon.	8. Voice-Over: It’s so good, it’ll have you saying, “I’m Thinking Arby’s.”