Carl’s Jr. Marketing Plan: Offer Burgers, Not Sex

For years, Carl’s Jr. has tried to get attention by following an old advertising adage: sex sells. Ads for the fast-food chain featured Heidi Klum licking a burger, Kim Kardashian lounging in a bubble bath and Paris Hilton in a revealing swimsuit washing a Bentley. He even trolled critics with a provocative statement, “We believe in putting hot models in our ads because ugly people don’t sell burgers.”

This was before the #MeToo movement, the drop in sales and the company’s management changes, with three CEOs in three years. Now, Carl’s Jr.’s parent company, CKE Restaurants Holdings, is planning a spring ad campaign that aims to distance the chain from its former image.

“Our plan moving forward is really about how to keep food at the center of what we do,” said Chad Crawford, a Burger King, Denny’s and Popeyes veteran who was recently named chief brand officer of CKE. .

The company, once better known for its ads than its food, has been without a dedicated ad agency for most of 2019. New campaigns for Carl’s Jr. and another CKE chain, Hardee’s, will be handled by agency 72andSunny , who is getting a second chance after the company replaced him early last year.

“We certainly don’t look to the past,” said Jess Monsey, president of 72andSunny, New York. The agency recently worked with other companies to overcome long legacies of sexism, producing a “bathsculinity” campaign for Ax that tackled male stereotypes.

CKE, perennially an underdog to bigger rivals like McDonald’s and Burger King, with more than 3,800 locations in 44 states and dozens of countries, has always seemed to appreciate the attention. The rags-to-riches to near ruin story of its founder is an industry lore: Carl N. Karcher invested $325 in a hot dog cart in Southern California in 1941 and l turned into a western burger powerhouse before facing off with a federal insider to trade charges and feud with its board of directors. It was eventually filed.

From 2000 to 2017, CKE was led by Andrew F. Puzder, an outspoken critic of minimum wage laws. He helped raise the profile of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, but was often accused of understaffing restaurants and underpaying employees. He was also a shameless cheerleader for the raunchy commercials, telling Fox News they had “saved a lot of jobs” by bringing in “hungry young guys”, despite prompting boycott calls.

President Trump appointed Mr. Puzder to head the Labor Department, a selection that faced bipartisan resistance. Shortly after, Mr. Puzder admitted to employing an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper, later paying the associated back taxes. He also denied domestic violence accusations made and later retracted by his ex-wife. In 2017, he withdrew his candidacy for the position of Secretary of Labor and left CKE.

The company distanced itself from its racy ads, but halfheartedly. A 2017 ad featured a character named Carl Hardee Sr., who blamed the provocative ads on his millennial son and said the company was moving to a “food not boobs” approach. The spot, however, drew complaints because it included scantily clad models in an ad inside the ad.

When CKE parted ways with 72andSunny, which handled its advertising for six years, it sold its business to advertising giant Havas. Actor and frequent presenter Matthew McConaughey has pledged to do voice-over work, praising Carl’s Jr.’s “biggety-wiggety, buck-wild beef.”

More than a thousand Carl’s Jr. locations began offering a veggie burger from Beyond Meat this year. On April 20, a date celebrated by cannabis consumers, Carl’s Jr. made CBD-infused burgers available for $4.20 at a restaurant in Denver.

Mr Crawford called CKE’s recent marketing “inconsistent”. In the first half of 2019, according to research firm Kantar, Carl’s Jr. ad spend fell more than 50% to $18.9 million.

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s had revenue of $3.6 billion in the United States last year, down from recent years, according to research firm Technomic. CKE will now attempt to turn the tide with more burger-focused ad campaigns.

“We don’t have to fabricate a story,” Mr. Crawford said. “We just have to figure out how to say it in a way that resonates with consumers in a way that’s relevant for today.”