Wendy's misses Dave. The chain's sales have stayed as flat as its square burgers since the lovable founder died in 2002. Since then, Wendy's advertising campaigns have been -- to put it lightly-- less than memorable.
Wendy's was the first fast-good chain to do a dollar menu and the first to have a healthy menu, but for some reason it couldn't keep up the innovation. As this Time article from 2005 explains:
Over the past two years, its competitors wised up and realized thatBut now Wendy's is getting smart again. It's spent the past seven years exactly where most Americans are now -- in a recession. As a result, it's prepared to offer desperate people what they want: free things!they too could goose up sales by adding some variety to the menu. In
some cases they copied many of Wendy's most successful products. "That
never happened before," says Janice Meyer, a fast-food-industry analyst
for Credit Suisse First Boston... The situation got so bad that Wendy's had
to launch its latest innovation, an entrée-size fruit salad, in
February -- not exactly when most people are yearning for a slice of
cantaloupe -- because it knew that McDonald's was launching an
apple-and-walnut salad in May."
Hence the Wendy's Bid for Value, an online auction site where bidding starts at an item's retail price and
then every bid knocks the price down. The person who bids down to 99 cents wins the
item. The prizes have ranged from
irreverent (Chuck Norris' jacket) to high-end electronics like
plasma televisions. Today is the last day for the auctions, and Wendy's
is bidding off televisions and game consoles from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
While companies constantly run
contests giving away free things, Wendy's wisely avoided the "one
winner chosen randomly" style and have made consumers feel a part of
the auction. The response on the Internet has been so positive that
Wendy's will for sure try it again; and if it doesn't, its
competitors will.
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The wendy's bid for value is not really a reverse auction - something like www.biduhappy.com is a real reverse auction were the buyer puts up their requirements and the sellers bid to obtain the business by offering the best price.
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