As Wendy's Re-Partners with GasBuddy is it too Little to Late

On a wing and a prayer Wendy’s continues to put its best foot forward to drive sales of its new national breakfast.  While most marketing partnerships do help drive new electricity into a brand or product in this case Wendy’s partnership with GasBuddy may run flat according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Jimmy Bennett, VP of media and social at Wendy’s stated “This an important launch for us as we expand into the morning daypart. For the first time you can now get Wendy’s breakfast at any location in the U.S.,” “Having worked with GasBuddy before on various successful campaigns, we knew it had to be part of our marketing strategy given their audience and reach.”

According to Johnson, Wendy’s made a big mistake telegraphing to the world it was rolling out breakfast four months prior to the rollout.  Wendy’s was working so hard to convince its franchisees that the third time for a national breakfast rollout was the charm that it gave all competitors time to out brand, out price, and out position Wendy’s new breakfast.

We remember when Wendy’s was first too leverag GasBuddy’s most viewed screens, capturing 100 percent viewership of the pre-drive audience as they plan out their errands for the day. This includes Wendy’s branding on GasBuddy’s home screen, as well as sponsoring the hugely popular “Price Spread”, which shows the difference between the cheapest and most expensive gas stations in your area.

Jordan Grossman, EVP of advertising sales at GasBuddy stated “We’re delighted to be a part of the launch of Wendy’s new breakfast menu. Note: GasBuddy community has over 30 million visits per month to [quick-service restaurant] establishments and has an extremely high appetite for anything of value… Wendy’s expansion into the morning meal time daypart provides both value and utility to our consumers as they frequently fill up in the morning and often make multiple stops for both food and fuel consumption.”

Here is the problem this time, TACO BELL.  So, last week Taco Bell introduced 3 of new breakfast burritos positioned to complement its own breakfast line-up and drive any potential Wendy’s breakfast samples back according to Johnson.

Wendy’s, new Toasted Breakfast Burritos at prices ranging from $1 to $2.79 a perfect price range to drive temptation and trial. The new items are:

1.       The Cheesy Toasted Breakfast Burrito with eggs, nacho cheese and sausage is priced starting at $1.

2.       The Grande Toasted Breakfast Burrito with a double serving of eggs, cheese, potato bites, pico de gallo and either bacon or sausage, for $2.79.

3.       The Hash Brown Toasted Breakfast Burrito with bacon or sausage, cheese and a hash brown for $1.99.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/