Arby’s Real-Time Social
ROAR Groupe / Moxie work for Arby’s Restaurants | 2016-2021
Social has to react at “the speed of culture” according to current belief.
Meaning: anyone who works in social is on call 24/7/365.
It wasn’t unusual to have a “war room” call on a Saturday night because someone had mentioned Arby’s on TV. A combination of amazing strategy and creative made things happen.
Arby’s Twitter post the day the platform went from 140 to 280 characters (November 8, 2017).
We wanted to see how many “characters” we’d created could fit in a single image and still be recognizable.
“How fast can you…?
Our team was on a retainer, which meant we did whatever the clients wanted. For a while, we had ONE job code (which anyone who’s worked at an agency knows is GOLD when it comes to doing your timesheet), but eventually we had to create an additional time code for “real-time posts” because it was taking up a more significant amount of our days and was worth tracking on its own.
Selected Works
Arby’s Missing Menu
TikTok Influencer Campaign – October 27, 2020–November 6, 2020
SILVER CANNES LIONS WINNER for Social Influencer
SHORTY AWARD WINNER for TikTok Partnership
You’re probably wondering why, if this won a Shorty Award AND a Silver Cannes Lion it doesn’t get its own project callout on my Work page?
The short answer: I HATED this project while it was going on. It was all done after-hours when the team was already tapped out, and every new piece was a fire drill. There were so many hands involved and so many opinions flying around that it was not fun to work on.
I should mention: I was NOT the target audience for this post, and I worked on it anyway. Goes to show that sometimes the work you get behind the least is the work that gets the most notice.
The best writeup-for this project can be found on the Shorty Awards entry page (it’s pasted in below as well). Big props to Ginger and Orin for making sense of this crazy couple of weeks (and weekends, in Jen’s case) and getting it all down on paper. There is also a video on YouTube that Fallon put together as part of the Cannes entry.
The entire Design team contributed in every way possible, as we were all in the studio shooting a different set of content pieces when the initial post from @h1t1 (John Casterline) dropped. The only part of this I can claim as “just me” was writing out the word “SPONSORSHIP?” in red Sharpie for the 4th piece of the campaign.
The final campaign became six separate TikToks from Arby’s:
The Team
The Shorty Awards Entry
Arby’s is always on the lookout for buzzworthy opportunities to spark conversation and drive positive brand sentiment––and we know that TikTok is a perfect channel to stand out as a brand by appealing to a younger and more digitally-engaged audience. So, when a Gen Z TikTok user from Florida named @h1t1 posted a TikTok, in which he described buying a $25 flat screen TV, we knew we had a great opportunity to steer the conversation and make something cool happen.
@h1t1’s TV looked normal, except for one thing: when he turned it on, it mysteriously displayed the Arby’s menu board. Arby’s hopped on it quickly, fueling intrigue about the origins of @h1t1’s mysterious television by simply commenting, “we’ve been looking for this!” The massive social and PR buzz that followed over the coming weeks was achieved through a mixture of strategic content planning and genuine consumer engagement.
Consumer trust comes from being able to relate to a brand. People like brands that feel authentic and like-minded, especially on social. So, with that in mind, our strategy was to increase social media engagement by connecting with untapped audiences through a fellow fan strategy. We aimed to deliver creative content that strengthens Arby’s relevance and brand affinity by celebrating fans’ interests, creating a space for fans to come together. The result is a deeply loyal and highly engaged fanbase whose affinity for Arby’s brand is unmatched within the QSR industry.
One of Arby’s key strategies for connecting with fans on that ultra-personal level is leveraging social listening to identify opportunities for the brand to activate on real-time, trending moments. Arby’s responded quickly to the initial viral video from @h1t1 and was able to craft a real-time narrative that carried out the following weeks, driving high engagement throughout while staying true to Arby’s witty, down-to-earth, fellow fan tone on social.
As audiences on TikTok and beyond caught wind of the hilarious “beef” between Arby’s and @h1t1, users began creating their own videos around the narrative. From new characters in @h1t1’s stolen menu story to people “discovering” similar Arby’s TV menus in unexpected places like new cars and used electronics, it took on a life of its own.
Arby’s seized the opportunity to proactively engage in the conversation, giving its audience even more reasons to share and participate. From hacking an actual Arby’s menu screen to display @h1t1’s original video to tracking down @h1t1 and flying an airplane towing a banner over his head that read “we want our TV back,” Arby’s curated real moments that allowed @h1t1 to create his own original content to keep his fans engaged.
The banter and “negotiations” between Arby’s and @h1t1 continued over 40 TikTok videos, ultimately landing on an agreement for Arby’s to send a Mystery Box in exchange for the “missing menu.” Fans speculated what was inside, and news outlets from coast to coast reported on the now viral interactions.
The Mystery Box included a giant flatscreen to replace his “broken” one, as fans had speculated it might, but it also included an announcement that converted views to actual transactions: a secret menu deal called “The $5 Missing Menu Meal” available at Arby’s locations nationwide. All fans had to do was say, “I have your TV” at the drive-thru to redeem the deal for a limited time.
What started out as a “broken TV” turned into far-exceeding results for not only Arby’s, but @h1t1’s TikTok page:
Moxie, Fallon, Edelman, Arby’s
*This is the exact listing from the Shorty Awards. No, I did not list myself first. Ginger sent in the listing for the Shorty entry.
See the campaign:
Nintendo Switch Announcement
October 21, 2016
Sometimes, a really BIG announcement came as a surprise and we had to react even though a post wasn’t planned to go up that day. The day the Switch was unveiled was exactly that: in less than four hours I had one built, shot in-store and sent over to our clients to post.
Oh, and the controllers actually do slide in-and-out on each side; there is just enough grip from the base piece that it holds each controller snugly.
We shot multiple versions, and the final one posted was accompanied by the line, “Beefy and Portable” and featured both a full-size Roast Beef Sandwich, a Roast Beef Slider and Curly Fries.
The final image was posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but was removed in 2020 at a request from Nintendo.
The Team
Loot Tick from Apex Legends
February 21, 2019
Apex Legends premiered during Super Bowl LIII, so this wasn’t exactly a “real-time” build. Our team’s project manager, Cameron, is a HUGE Apex fan and was an early-adopter of the game. He encouraged us to create a post around the property because it was still trending weeks later and suggested making one of the prize-dropping bots called a Loot Tick. In the game, the three triangular panels around the Tick blow off and the prizes float above each of the panels as holograms. The arrangement of the Potato Cakes on the ground around the Tick are meant to mimic the panels.
Of course, I had to make it in 3D (if you’ve seen any of my Gundam posts on the Arby’s channels, you’ll know I love tech and robots).
I started at about 7 PM after I’d gotten home from the office… and I never went to sleep that night. I came to work the next morning with bloodshot eyes and the completed Loot Tick. I shot it, edited the photo, delivered it to the clients, and then went home to sleep!
I like working with the pressboard packaging the most; it’s easy to score and make very complex shapes without it shredding. Those tiny gear shapes and the coverings for the legs would have been much, much harder in the brown corrugated packaging.
The final image was posted on Arby’s Twitter and Instagram.
The Team
Sauce Portrait of Brandi Chastain
May 22, 2018
“Can you draw a portrait of Brandi Chastain in the next hour?”
Let’s face it… the Soccer Hall of Fame did soccer LEGEND Brandi Chastain dirty.
ESPN was one of several channels to pick up on the… likeness (?)… the next day:
So we improved it. And TMZ agreed.
The Team
Draw This In Your Style
March 5, 2019
#Drawthisinyourstyle or #DTIYS is a challenge where artists take on the concept that another artist made and execute it with their own unique style. The challenge became massively popular because it became a way of sharing the emotions of an idea through art making.
We decided after the success of the “MakeMySandwich campaign that “Sandwich Art” would become another way we could make posts in addition to Cardboard and Sauce Art. As #Drawthisinyourstyle was taking off, we got in on the trend.
The Team
