Arby's Marketing Team Has Broken More Than One World Record
When it comes to marketing food, you really have to know how to stand out. Whether it's thinking up catchy slogans like Wendy's "Where's the Beef?," launching a massive celebrity collab, like McDonald's Saweetie Meal, or even pulling a cleverly fiendish trick on a competitor right under its nose like Burger King's "McDonalds Whopper Deal" (via Business Insider), it's important to make your name and your product known however you can.
Just like all the other fast-food names out there, Arby's is no stranger to pulling out the stops for its marketing. You're probably familiar with Arby's ubiquitous "We Have The Meats" campaign, but you may not be familiar with the roast beef chain's more outlandish — and record-breaking — marketing stunts.
In a dual grab for Guinness World Records for both the smallest and largest advertisements, Arby's staged each in America's largest and smallest cities, respectively. Out in Monowi, Nebraska, which boasts one sole resident, Arby's constructed a massive 5-acre, 212,000-square foot poster to announce the glorious news that, yes, Arby's now serves Coke. Before making the massive advertisement, Arby's collaborated with Georgia Tech's Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology to print a teaser for the Monowi message onto a sesame seed from an Arby's bun, which could only be viewed through an electron microscope. It debuted the tiny ad in — where else? — The Big Apple.
But if you thought Arby's would stop at sesame seeds and cornfield ads, you'd be underestimating how far Arby's would go to make its meat known.
Arby's ran a 13-hour commercial in Duluth, Minnesota
If you think commercials for car insurance or political ads are absurdly long, Arby's has them beat by a mile. On a single TV station in Duluth, Minnesota, viewers could tune in for an epic 13-hour Arby's commercial, featuring no dialogue, no music (until the last minute), but uncut footage of a brisket being slow-cooked for 13 hours. Done to promote Arby's Smokehouse Brisket sandwich, Arby's wanted to show viewers that they really do smoke their meat for that long and invited them to look in on the exciting process. Guinness World Records declared it to be the longest TV commercial at the time, although this was later outdone by a 14-hour Old Spice ad in Brazil.
Viewers who tuned into the livestream of the commercial had the chance to win a variety of prizes just in case the sight of a brisket simmering in its own juices wasn't exciting enough. Prizes ranged from thirteen $1,300 cash vouchers, to smokers and cookbooks, according to a press release from PR Newswire. Brand President & Chief Marketing Officer of Arby's Rob Lynch explained that the decision to make a 13-hour livestream was a step forward in surprising and delighting their guests and fans, adding "What better way to show meat lovers our unique 13 hours smoking process in all its glory?"
The commercial ended with Arby's executive chef Neville Craw removing the brisket, slicing it, and assembling an Arby's Smokehouse Brisket sandwich, onion rings and all (shown above).