Wendy's: Keeping Fortnite Fresh by VML

Through the online streaming platform Twitch, Fortnite has grown from a video game to the cultural hub for 12-to-24-year-olds and a new form of interactive entertainment altogether.

Rather than interrupt entertainment with advertising, Wendy’s decided to make its advertising the audience’s entertainment. Wendy’s playing Fortnite on Twitch acted as the Trojan horse for Wendy’s key messaging, getting past the filter of what gamers see and hear by blurring advertising and entertainment.

When Fortnite introduced a new game mode called Food Fight, Wendy’s saw an organic way to insert itself into the game’s story and meet the audience in its world. In this game mode, proponents of the Fortnite universe’s two restaurants – Durr Burger and Pizza Pit – could represent Team Burger or Team Pizza in battle. Wendy’s discovered that Durr Burger stored its virtual beef in freezers, a move directly against the fresh, never frozen beef for which Wendy’s is famous.

The game’s objective is to eliminate other players and be the last person standing. Wendy’s decided to enter the fight on the side of Team Pizza, with an objective to eliminate all burger freezers from the game. Wendy’s used the game as a vehicle for its core brand messaging of ‘fresh, never frozen beef’.

Wendy’s time destroying in-game freezers amassed more than 1.5m minutes watched. The Twitch stream was viewed live more than a quarter of a million times.