Ads We Love: Arby's & Pepsi
/Sometimes saying you're sorry can be fun...
From: Arby's | Ad Firm: Fallon
Why it's cool?
Actor Ving Rhames's amazing voice and near indignation in his delivery.
Why we love it?
As with the Badger Car Salesman or Founders Brewing, we love ads that confront problems head on with 100% honesty. In this case, Arby's forgot to fulfill their contractual obligation with a strategic business partner, Pepsi. They didn't just say they were sorry behind closed doors and rushed out a make up ad for it where no one watching it would know what was really happening. They went out of their way to make sure Pepsi knew they were sorry by 'fessing up in public.
And, with Pepsi's blessing, they found a way to make a public apology on brand and on message. They made themselves a brand you can trust because you know they won't fail to take responsibility when they mess up. That's almost as refreshing as an ice cold Pepsi.
What can you learn from it?
Don't be afraid to admit you messed up as a brand. Everybody's human. Everybody makes mistakes. Brands are just large collections of people selling a product or service. Even the group can have a collective 'whoopsie'.
Another great example of this is Domino's. They had a number of years of poor quality and lax standards. They made a monumental effort to turn things around. But had they done that quietly, very few people would know about it. Many would continue to think that Domino's was still terrible. Instead, they boldly told everyone of their shortcomings and what they were doing to fix it. As a result, they experienced rapid revenue growth in the last two years.