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Mr. Bacon Pants, Wendy's and A Twitter Contest..albeit Tied to Facebook

I guess brands, like Wendy's, are especially desperate to have a viable presence in social media, so they are willing to try anything. By glomming onto Bacon's large fan base through their Applewood Smoked Bacon Burger, Wendy's is sponsoring a contest on twitter called "The Bacon Hunt". It's not rocket science, that's for sure. By following @UrBaconMeCrazy and using the hashtag #bacon, and tweeting updates about bacon, the user has a chance to win $2000.

Having just said in my last post (http://bit.ly/4AlWM5) that Twitter never did contests, I must now recant that--but only partially. Though the contest is on twitter, it is feeding directly to Wendy's Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/wendys) where they hope to garner more fans. I have to assume they felt Twitter alone would not be as effective.

We'll watch how successful it is, but so far they have garnered 1300 fans since Monday, according to AdWeek (http://bit.ly/2RmdsD).>

Not a huge campaign so far, but they have done three smart things:
1. Tied to Facebook where they can leverage the relationship more effectively
2. Tied into an existing already wildly popular presence: Bacon (tho it's sad to have to acknowledge this fact)
3. Generated lots of buzz around the campaign.

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A fast-food launch disaster

I recently read this story from Andy Swan about a Wendy's launch disaster, courtesy of McDonalds.  This McDonalds was the only fast-food joint in a town of about 100K people.  The lunch lines were packed, but they were so efficient that it never took more than a few minutes to get your food.  That's awesome service.  A few years later, a Wendy's decided to open up nearby to steal some of the lunchtime thunder.  McDonalds, instead of cowering and lowering their prices or running huge advertisements against their new competitor, did something even smarter.

On the day of Wendy's grand opening, McDonalds shut it's doors for the day, without notice, to 'repave their driveway'.  This caused a lot of hungry diners to be diverted to the brand new Wendy's, who obviously weren't ready for the rush.  Lines ballooned, people got agitated, horns started honking, and many people left dissatisfied.  You never forget your first impression, right?  I loved this story, because instead of a person's natural instinct to become scared of competition, McDonalds decided to go on the offensive by giving their competitors even more business!  The Wendy's customers probably complained all the way back to the office, where they told other coworkers about the disaster.  McDonalds was probably even busier the next day!

So where does this leave us?  While no one is trying to sabatoge our opening (I hope), it's still a grand opening and things will still be very hectic!  This is going to be the third store we're opening, but this should be our biggest opening.  We'll try hard to be as efficient as possible, but grand openings are never easy since you have a new staff and new operations.  There will always be mini disasters that we'll have to work through.  Poor Wendy's never had a chance, but we'll try our hardest to make your experience at Beard Papa's a pleasant one!

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Wendy's Co-Opts Hungry Tweets in Real Time

By streaming tweets with keywords like "bacon" alongside images of bacon cheeseburgers and links to ingredient-themed Twitter accounts, Wendy's Real Time attempts to take ownership of hunger on Twitter. But does it work, or is it too much mustard?

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Don't eat so fast: Surgeons remove plastic fork two years after man unknowingly swallows it at Wendy's

Doctors say a North Carolina man who was plagued with coughing fits should be OK now that they have removed a 1-inch piece of plastic from his lung, where it had rested since he apparently inhaled it nearly two years ago while sucking down a soft drink at a Wendy's restaurant.

Doctors at Duke University Medical Center say the plastic fragment of an eating utensil — with the Wendy's logo still legible on the side — was likely to blame for the coughing, fatigue and pneumonia spells that plagued John Manley for almost two years.

via: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551863,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r3:c0.000000:b0:z5

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CSR Minute: September 14, 2009 - Sprint's Eco-Accessories; Wendy's Donates to Diabetes Research; CarbonFree DC's Contest

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Podcast Thirty Nine: The 39th Step

Click here to download:

lovehatethings - The 39th Step.mp3 (10148 KB)

"The 39th Step" of lovehatethings includes some ruminations on the "next" great social network, saving money on lethal injections through last meals, sleeping in a hamburger, and why I can't bring myself to care about award shows and Mac announcements.

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thinglets: a fitting last meal - drive-thru style

In happening to stumble across some unbelievable food stats, I decided to construct a meal that would save capital punishment expenses by likely killing someone while enjoying their last meal. The following meal contains:

Total Single Meal Amount/Recommended Daily Amount

• Calories: 3850/2000
• Fat: 125g/65g
• Sodium: 3900mg/2400mg
• Carbs: 571g/300g
• Protein: 127g/50g

The meal consists of a Double Gulp Coca Cola from 7-Eleven, a Baconator from Wendy's, a side order of Poutine from McDonald's (that's fries with cheese and gravy for the uninitiated), and an A&W Large Chocolate Shake. Guaranteed stroke and heart attack. Sure you can get worse desserts at sit down restaurants, but the drive-up/thru is just so much more poetic.

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The R&B McDonald's McNuggets commercial: Could that be racist to some?

Maybe I'm over-thinking it but the McDonald's ad with the guy doing the R&B song about the chick with the McNuggets seems like... 10% racist to me. I kinda wonder why they couldn't get a white guy to do it.

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