Wendy's Twitter Roasts

2017

Date: 2 January 2017 · Place: Twitter; Wendy's HQ, Dublin, Ohio · agency VML · Figures: Amy Brown, social media lead · @NHride, fan who set the chain off · @McDonalds, foil · Tags: Brand, Twitter, Wendys 01. Where's the Beef On 2 January 2017 a user named @NHride asks Wendy's account if their beef is really fresh. Amy Brown, running the account, replies Where do you get this nonsense? We've only ever used fresh, never frozen beef on our hamburgers. Period. The user pushes back; the account does not back down. The exchange goes viral within hours. Over the following week Wendy's roasts McDonald's, then individual users, then pages of replies. The thread roast me becomes its own format, with users tagging Wendy's for ritual abuse. 02. Brand Account as Personality Wendy's account becomes a case study cited in every marketing textbook printed after 2018. The Mixtape EP We Beefin'? drops on Spotify in March 2018. The brand's account follows in the @dril cadence, with no acknowledgement. Steak-umm, Denny's, Moonpie, MTA, and the LAPD all adopt the strategy through 2017. Most fail; Wendy's keeps the franchise. Sources • Wendy's Twitter thread, 2-4 January 2017 • Adweek, 'How Wendy's Won Twitter', 6 January 2017 • Sapna Maheshwari, The New York Times, 'How Wendy's Twitter Personality Was Born', 24 May 2017