Following Wendy’s recent return to the UK market, the company quickly spread to several locations, the London neighborhood of Camden being the eighth location to receive the world-famous fast-food restaurant.
Seeing as how Camden is a place of music and culture, Wendy’s decided to freshen up its style and give the pigtail-wearing girl more flair.
It’s not uncommon for brands to adapt to a new market with all its specificities and unique character, changing their style or messaging to appeal to a different audience. Think of it as selling products in local currency. Wendy’s changing the design to accommodate the local market is branding 101.
As a matter of fact, Wendy had already been sporting a flowing emo fringe in Camden for quite some time when the restaurant decided to open there. On a street art mural, no less.
Wendy’s decided to take this piece of local art and turn it into official branding for the Camden-only venue. With the help of the artist platform Camden Open Air Gallery and the VMLY&R ad agency, Wendy’s opened up in Camden with not one but three new hairdos.
The street mural emo fringe naturally made a perfect fit for Wendy’s new look. In addition, the cleverly designed marketing campaign included punk and bouffant hairstyles.
Tony Barr, Wendy's senior international marketing director for APMEA & Europe, had this to say:
"As a new brand entering such a culturally-rich neighborhood, it was important for us to show respect for the community and showcase the genuine excitement we have to become a part of it."
Twitter was ripe with excitement, too. Users were pleased with the opportunity to vote for the best hairdo, and Punk Wendy won by a landslide. Not a small number of memes cropped up, providing Wendy’s with far-reaching social clout that extended well beyond the borders of the UK.
Wendy’s latest marketing campaign is a textbook example of how beneficial social interactions and personalized advertising are. A punk Wendy now greets customers in Camden and glares at them from the menus and all the merchandising.
The new Wendy's logo has received total digital fame, leading many loyal customers to wonder if their local Wendy’s might get special treatment in the future. It also set the bar for quality customer engagement for other large restaurant chains to follow.
