Summary Articles

Bergen Farthing

Wohl, J. (2016, September 9). Arby’s ties its meat messaging to hunting season in new campaign. Advertising Age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/cmostrategy/arby-s-tiesmeat-messaging-hunting-season/305789/

Since 2014, Arby’s has been using the “We have the Meats” tagline in their commercials and advertisements, creating a reputation for their roast beef and meat-focused products. In the past month however, Arby’s has set out with a new campaign targeting this meat obsession specifically at a hunting audience. Arby’s has taken advantage of the fact that “there are more than 20 million hunters in the United States, and that group overlaps heavily with the chain’s customer base” (paragraph 2). As the most recent of their campaigns, the thought was that there’s a connection between those passionate about hunting who hunt meat, and Arby’s who is passionate about serving meat. The campaign includes three new commercials and full-page print advertisements that will be featured in hunting-focused publications such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Game & Fish, and Bowhunter. The television commercials will air on the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel, which has not happened in a number of years. To ensure authenticity of the advertisements, Arby’s included members from the company which understood hunting and had specific knowledge on the subject. Still using Ving Rhames’ voice, which has part of the commercials since the “We have the Meats” tagline, the new advertisements have a similar feel to those customers have grown used to. One of the three commercials ties in with Arby’s tagline, by saying “whether it’s winged, antlered or finned, Arby’s supports your pursuit of meats” (paragraph 6). Additionally, the commercials feature a new version of the classic Arby’s logo. Large antlers protrude out of both sides of the Arby’s hat, while a bright hunting orange is the backdrop. This new logo will be specifically shown in restaurants located in popular hunting areas. This new campaign is to be launched on September 12th, around the kickoff of hunting season, and will run through the end of the year.

Though Arby’s has not changed anything about their products, they are participating in Market Development as they are targeting a new geographic segment within their current geographic boundaries. This article will be helpful in the Marketing Strategy section of the paper. It can serve as an example of a target audience, and as a way they have taken their signature tagline and made it applicable to a specific audience. Specifically when talking about the product/market expansion grid it will be an example of reading out to different markets.