A Brand We're Watching in Social

Wouldn't it be nice to have lunch with some coworkers? For me, seeing them each day in Zoom calls has just made me miss them more and wish we could all get together outside the confines of our houses and muted Brady Bunch squares.

Perhaps that's why I was so charmed by Potbelly's video stunt today. The brand "delivered" sandwiches to its marketing team through some low-fi trickery (ie loved ones chucking the product in from out of frame), creating a simple and endearing illusion in a format we've all come to know well: Zoom.

I reached out to Potbelly's marketing team to learn more about the video, and the story that emerged is a much larger and more interesting one about a chain that was just on the cusp of new branding era when the pandemic made the company revisit all its strategies.

You should definitely go watch the video, but I think you'll be even more intrigued by how the chain recruited as its CMO the architect behind Wendy's frequently celebrated social strategy, then set about carving out a niche that could change 500-location Potbelly into a major player in a highly competitive category.

And if you work for a company that's wondered how best to carve out a social content strategy and voice, take this piece of free advice from Brandon Rhoten, the Potbelly CMO who learned from his time at Wendy's that it's about consistency, not big swings.

"Some things will work, but a lot won’t. And that’s OK. We’re not going to put all our eggs in any one basket. We just have to be consistent in what we put out into the world."

David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com

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