Sometime in February 2024, Wendy’s did what all publicly traded organizations do: declare earnings. However, during one of the virtual meetings of Wendy’s corporate leaders with analysts, the CEO made some announcements.
Most of the comments were largely strategic projections of what the fast-food chain intends to do in the coming financial year.
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Kirk Tanner became Wendy’s CEO in February 2024. The ripples following his recent announcement of the company’s intent to adopt dynamic pricing may have left him a bit flustered.
During that meeting, the chap mentioned other things, like the many technological innovations Wendy’s would be adopting in the coming year. Unfortunately, the news about dynamic pricing earned the company some backlashes.
‘Dynamic Pricing’ For People Who Are Yet to Catch On
By February’s end, it was all over the news, and several people who knew nothing about ‘dynamic pricing’ found themselves rushing off to search engines and AI assistants to learn about the concept.
So, in simple terms, dynamic pricing means allowing demand to govern and dictate the real-time price of products or services.
Wendy’s Came Under Fire
In Wendy’s case, most customers understood Tanner’s proposal to raise meal prices during peak hours. Now that you know, we guess it is easy to understand why many fast-food chain customers have criticized the policy.
Uber tried a similar pricing strategy and has received largely negative reviews for it. Wendy’s seems to be next on the product review jury.
Sizing Up a PR Opportunity
This is where Burger King’s freebies made an entree. On Wednesday, February 28, they decided to surf the wave of customer backlash rocking their competitor’s boat.
Burger King took to social media to subtly and indirectly criticize Wendy’s announcement of a new pricing strategy. In addition, they offered free Whoppers to anyone who wanted to try out their meal-ordering services via the BK App.
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Burger King was quite discreet about their call out on social media, but anyone abreast of the dynamic pricing crisis would easily recognize that the jabs were meant for Wendy’s.
Not only BK but almost every review article about Wendy’s proposed pricing strategy expresses some form of displeasure.
Wendy’s Damage Control
Burger King’s Threads post mentioned ‘surging’ and fleecing people based on how hungry they were at that moment. Seeing Tanner’s announcement was not having the desired effect, Wendy’s rushed to salvage the situation by issuing an official statement.
The statement sought to clarify that Wendy’s does not intend to adopt the widely criticized ‘surge pricing.’
Burger King Took No Prisoners
In Wendy’s follow-up statement, the fast-food chain mentioned that jerking up meal prices during peak hours is by no means what they intend to do.
Instead, the statement explained that dynamic pricing, in the context of Tanner’s announcement, entails offering discounts to customers who patronize Wendy’s during off-peak hours and promo seasons.
Still Beckoning to Prospective Customers
After Burger King’s PR team saw they had been made, they did not back down or recant. Instead, they followed Wendy’s official statement, clarifying the supposed misinterpretation with yet another Threads post.
In this new post, Burger King points out that it was not out to start a trade war. Nonetheless, their social media handle still reiterated the Whoppers’s offer.
Ingenuity of Public Relations
Burger King’s PR team deserves a raise. They discreetly capitalized on Wendy’s fallout with their customers while claiming not to. Wendy’s misfortune was trending, so Burger King exploited it and even started a campaign in the process.
Overall, it was a win-win for Burger King, as it is easy to imagine a multitude of new customers trying out their service after seeing the free Whoppers offer.
No Hard Feelings, It’s Just Business
There’s probably someone reading this story who thinks Burger King was shrewd in how they took advantage of another’s misfortune. However, business is just like the animal kingdom; morality is seldom consequential, and survival is key.
Burger King was not out to take down another business; they were only trying to increase traffic to their app.
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Of course, the trend would die down with time, and everyone would return to their to-do lists. However, knowing when the iron is hot and hitting it right is key.
Burger King’s PR team realized Wendy’s gauff was a great wave. So, they grabbed their surfboards and added custom windsails.
From Traffic Conversion to Bumper Annual Revenues
It’s simple math: the customer scavenger knew that the more traffic it could draw to the Burger King app, the more conversions were likely to occur. No matter how good its offers and services are, subscriptions would be low if customers don’t try them out.
Even Wendy’s would grab such an opportunity if the tables turned.
Frequency of Use Determines App Experience
Also, companies providing e-commerce services tend to offer their customers a better user experience as the frequency of in-app engagement increases.
So, traffic translates to a subscription to Burger King’s Royal Perks loyalty program. Afterward, the customer uses the app a few more times, and personalized offers start popping up. The cycle increases sales and revenue just by exploiting a trending issue.
Could the Campaign Have Been Premeditated?
Someone even suggested that Burger King likely had the free Whoppers campaign in the pipeline.
Perhaps the giveaway was Burger King’s way of occasionally driving sales by giving out freebies to faithful customers. But overall, kudos to them for the opportunistic campaign.