Launching Meta’s First Branded Horizon Virtual Reality Experience to help Wendy’s jettison themselves into the Metaverse.
Background
To reinvigorate their critical breakfast business, Wendy’s called for a PR-worthy experience to blast through the ad-blitz of March Madness and boost the value of their sponsorship. We collectively created an experience that felt as bold as their edge-pushing brand voice and tapped the hearts of Wendy’s beloved 18-49 y/o sports fans . We went deep into their brand ethos, “We Got You” and asked ourselves how that would come to life in the Metaverse. At the convergence of the passions of fast-food loving sports fans and their obsession with Gaming that our Metaverse + March Madness strategy was born.
Wendy’s + Meta + VML pioneered the collective and connective power of all Meta’s creative spaces to deeply engage with fans. The approach pioneered new brand experiences on Meta’s platforms and proposed an entirely new marketing proposition: What would it feel like to play at the intersection of the Wendy’s brand, the thrill of March Madness and the marketing possibilities of the Metaverse?
Welcome to the Wendyverse.
Multi-Dimensional and Inclusive Experience
To ensure that our experience was built for everyone (not just the privileged few with Meta Quest headsets), we learned how to utilize the whole spectrum of experiences across the Meta family of apps to tell a VR story. We also put special attention towards building for accessibility and inclusion in VR not only for the final consumer experience, but also for the content capture for ad shoots as well.
PR and Industry Press
The ads for Horizon Worlds had a unique set of brand lift questions, attempting to identify association with Wendy’s + Innovation. We pioneered two new metaverse measurement approaches with Meta’s Marketing Science team to gauge impact (Buzz Lift and Horizon Lift). While the results are not able to be shared publicly, the results were strong enough that Wendy’s committed to building 7 new worlds in Horizons. If you have a headset, dive into the Wendyverse and see for yourself!
“This is one virtual land grab that makes sense.”
“It opens the door to unlimited and untapped possibilities for how food brands can play into the VR world.”
“...the first virtual restaurant in Horizon Worlds... we’re evolving ecosystems... paving the way to the next era of personal advertising.”
Credits:
Meta Creative Shop
Jake Bruene: Meta Vertical Lead and Creative Lead (and mastermind)
Kiki Allen: Meta Vertical Lead and Strategic Lead (and relationship master)
Cristian Duran: Meta Creative Strategist
Karen Maurice-O’Leary: Meta Product Lead (and creator community leader)
Tom Gilmartin: Meta Creative Director (and human connector and conduit)
Creative Agency
VMLY&R
Creators:
Nspire