Social Media
“Social media is the first party brands have ever been invited to and most of them are blowing it with a sales pitch. People don’t go to parties to buy crap. They go to have fun. Which is why you can’t just post an Instagram photo of your product anymore. You have to create experiences users want to engage with.”
Carl’s Jr. | The Thickies
As an LA brand, it was only logical to celebrate the Oscars with our own real-time Twitter awards show. Adweek, Fox News, Marketing Dive, The Drum, Eater, and MediaPost agreed.
Awards included Best Fan, Best Tweet, Best Food Selfie and (my personal favorite) Best Hater. We sent winners actual statuettes although the latter sent his back and it is now sitting on my desk.
Carl’s Jr. | Spielburgers
As a tribute to Steven Spielberg’s new flick Ready Player One, we publicly offered to rename our new sliders “Spielburgers”. The social activation earned press from dozens of media outlets including Variety, CNN, Hollywood Reporter and Mashable, 1.3 billion earned media impressions, commentary from stars such as Mark Hamill and BJ Novak, and a “cease & desist” from Spielberg himself.
Oh, and we got a Gold Clio.
Carl’s Jr. | #SaveLucifer
Alright, so this one takes some explaining. But it might be my favorite project ever.
During the promotional window for our El Diablo burger, I flagged an online grassroots movement to save Lucifer, a TV show recently dropped by its broadcast network. While fans were petitioning for one of the streaming giants to pick it up, we capitalized on the shared Satan theme by throwing our hat in the ring as well.
We tweeted the star of the show, who replied with marked enthusiasm. Online chatter went through the roof and two days later, Netflix picked up the show.
Warner Brothers and the Lucifer team were so grateful for the support, they agreed to a 100% unpaid partnership during which we catered a cast lunch, and all the stars posted branded content. Lucifer even served El Diablos from the food truck.
From one of WB’s top executives: “Tom (Ellis) was so impressed with the effortless brilliance of the campaign and creativity of the conversation he personally brought it to the attention of the shows’ producers. They too were blown away and said not only is it one of the more creative uses of social media they’ve seen, they think anyone who can pick up and run with such a timely culture moment that quickly is clearly gifted.”
Aw, SHUCKS.
Hardee’s | #HardeesHotstreak
To promote Hardee’s new Nashville hot chicken sandwich, we hosted a Twitter contest in which fans with the longest Snapchat “hot” streaks won a coupon for a free sandwich. Back when, you know, Snapchat was relevant.
Carl’s Jr. | Daniel Cormier x Derrick lewis fast food wars
I know what you’re thinking.
“Wait, Sam, you leveraged Twitter to generate ANOTHER organic partnership with an A-list star who normally bills 6+ digits??” I know, I know. But when Popeye’s Chicken is that dumb, it’s kinda hard not to take advantage of it.
Carl’s jr. & Hardee’s | viral and micro-viral tweets
Between, like, 2016 and 2021, managing a fast food Twitter account was almost a rite of passage for a creative. And although that game has mostly been played out and I’ve moved on, here’s a few tweets I’m proud of.
