For years, Wendy's has been one of the gold standards of branded social media. Tough-talking and razor-witted, the brand's Twitter voice has essentially become a blend of Mean Girls and an insult comedian.
That approach has worked for a good while, but these are, of course, strange times of social isolation and generalized anxiety, making the Wendy's go-for-the-jugular banter feel a bit out of sync with society.
Then, on June 3—exactly two weeks ago today—something truly strange happened. The brand posted a series of tweets in support of Black Lives Matter. That's not the strange part, as quite a few brands were doing the same at the time. What's odd is that Wendy's promised to spend the coming days "amplifying Black voices" on Twitter.
Except, it didn't.
The next day, Wendy's retweeted one post about a donation it had made to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Then Wendy's went radio silent. Or, at least, Twitter silent.
Days went by with no Black voices amplified. Then disaster struck June 12 when Atlanta's Rayshard Brooks was shot to death by police outside a Wendy's. The next night, the franchise was burned amid protests (though despite the many racist replies to Wendy's after the fire, authorities say the two arson suspects are white women).
What happened here? My colleague Mary Emily O'Hara looks into it in Adweek today, and while the article has a lot of fascinating context and advice from outside experts, we still don't really know what's happening at the brand.
Why did Wendy's go silent even several days before the fire? How can a brand revive its social media presence after a long gap like this? I've seen it happen before, and it certainly can be done, but it also throws brands off their social stride, sometimes for years to come.
Has Wendy's lost its place as one of the ruling brands of Twitter because it wasn't prepared to adapt to a strange and rapidly evolving reality of 2020? Let me know what you think via the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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