Wendy’s has had its own struggles since the passing of its founder Dave Thomas. Recent improvements in product quality, product presentation (i.e. paper wrapped hamburgers) and in-store offerings have all contributed to recent growth and as marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Tim Calkins notes it’s “a classic marketing story about brands that stumble and then get their footing back. This is about really understanding your brand, and being true to it.” http://bit.ly/Ar3mWW.

But I think it’s just as likely that the change in order is a situation created more by what Burger King is not doing as opposed to what Wendy’s is doing. After all – what is Burger King’s brand and how is BK being ‘true to it’? There has been much discussion on how Burger King’s desire to focus on young men has backfired and hurt its position. The bizarre ‘King’ campaign was just that – bizarre. The ‘Whopper Freakout’ ads were interesting and showed a little promise (at least I thought so) but they were abandoned as well.

Burger King seems to have forgotten its own USP (unique selling proposition) and POD (point of differentiation). Of the three, only Burger King broils its burgers. When’s the last time you heard anything about that? Of course BK’s problems are substantially more complicated than not having a USP or POD. Just walk into a Burger King restaurant and you will realize what I mean instantly. To me the few restaurants I’ve been in lately are dark, somewhat less than spotlessly clean and bereft of a variety of healthy choices as opposed to McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

As the Ad-Age article concluded ‘Indeed, Wendy’s has benefited from the woes at Burger King, much like Diet Coke benefited from Pepsi’s issues to become the No. 2 soda brand.

Burger King has struggled with management and ownership changes, and analysts have said the chain faltered by focusing too much of its marketing on young men, a demographic hit hard by the recession. Wendy’s seized the moment, made the right changes and zipped into the No. 2 spot.

However, Burger King is determined to rebound. Last year it hired Global CMO Flavia Faugeres (Wendy’s has been sans CMO since June), brought on McGarry-Bowen , and, “to appeal to a broader audience, traded in its King character in favor of food as the star of its advertising. A new brand campaign is also expected this year.’

McGarryBowen is a top notch shop but I think Burger King has quality perception problem that supersedes its identity problem. It won’t be an easy fix but Wendy’s has shown that good comeback stories still exist in the ultra-competitive QSR burger category.

Over the weekend when I was flipping through the channels before heading out I saw the network baseball game and golf tournament. For some reason my thoughts drifted to fast food and realized that I had not seen an ad on television for McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s for a long time. Thinking more about it I don’t recall seeing them on page in magazines either or even hearing any of them on the radio. And by the way I watched a good amount of the Primetime Emmy’s last night and did not see one ad for any of them.

The last I recall hearing about any of them was the cheeky McDonald’s ad about the dollar that is hungry and what you can do with it. That might have been earlier this month so it’s likely that I just have not been listening to radio all that much lately.

I asked around to a couple of people if they were familiar with any ad campaigns for any of the big three burger leaders (actually McDonald’s is way far out in here so putting them in the same conversation would thrill Burger King and Wendy’s). Nobody I talked to could name any campaign.

Could the targeting be THAT good? Are the big three running ads in places of which I am not aware? I’m not one to eat in fast food restaurants any more than a handful of times a year. And I understand that I am far from the target audience in age or demographics. But I cannot remember any time where I had no idea of any of the campaigns run by the fast food outlets. Maybe they scale back campaigns in a big way in the summer time and are readying a deluge for the fall? With football season around the corner I could see that.

But what gives here? Am I missing the boat entirely? Are you aware of current ad campaigns run by McDonald’s, Burger King or Wendy’s? Oh and I don’t miss Jared at all thank you very much….

And I have been to the Acela club exactly three times this season which leads me to think that people who visit the Acela club do not subscribe or care about Foursquare. In fact the few people I asked who work there had never even heard of location based services like Foursquare. As Acela club ‘mayor’ I have not been offered the key to CitiField or even a free drink – alcoholic or not.

In an article in today’s NY Times http://nyti.ms/aDGgmn, it was noted that Loopt is offering people a mobile game that rewards people for checking in frequently to particular places. And as such one can become ‘boss’ of certain locations – sort of like being the mayor. The key thing is that companies like Gap, Burger King Etc., plan to use Loopt Star to reward loyal customers. Foursquare is also working with its partners to offer real-time rewards for check-ins and frequencies of visits.

One thing the article fails to mention is the vagaries of GPS check in on these platforms. I know for example on Foursquare when I attempt to ‘check-in’ I am given a list of nearby locations even if I am smack in the middle of one on the list. (Somehow I find it really odd that if I am sitting in a Starbucks it tells me that the one I am sitting in is somehow 137 meters away). But I can also check-in to any of these GPS-enabled locations whether I am actually physically there or not.

GPS technology is set to make a major leap forward with the advent of High Accuracy-NDGPS which will enable accuracy to the centimeter level. This will be a critical enhancement since it appears that I can check in at any number of places simultaneously/concurrently (or at least in quick sequence), so that I could gain reward points at places I actually never visited.

Think about it, you are sitting at coffee shop in the middle of the city, but you check in at Burger King (for the third time that week) even though you have been to the Burger King. Now Burger King sends you a coupon for a soda with a sandwich purchase. Retailer margins will be squeezed. People will game the system – that can be guaranteed.

I understand that companies can counter that talk about the fact the patron actually purchased something, but at the same time product is being given away for nothing. And how is that a good idea?

So join up now and get free stuff – while you can.

You see I left my house at 7AM this morning and it is now 9PM the same night.  It was snowing when I left (‘snow showers’ turned into 4 inches at my house I am told).  A harrowing ride down the parkway made making the 9:49AM flight no sure thing.  But I arrived at the airport at 8:50AM and breezed through security in about 8 minutes (I was really pleasantly surprised).   The flight was supposedly delayed 20 minutes which did not seem too bad in view of the weather as it was still snowing at LaGuardia.  And then it went straight downhill. 

No less than three separate times the plane left the gate only to return for one reason or another.  Finally after 3 hours they allowed us to get off the plane (the passenger bill of rights in action perhaps?) and we were immediately told once entering the gate area that the flight was in fact cancelled.  Good thing I paid the $ 25 upgrade to an exit row seat in coach.  My M.O. is to fly as cheap as possible.  I got what I paid for apparently. 

Since I have access to the Delta Sky Miles club I immediately walked in there where I learned that the next direct flight to Ft. Myers was at 8:30PM.   But somehow the desk attendant was able to get me in First Class (I did not ask but gladly accepted).  After a short flirt with flying to Detroit then to Ft. Myers that would had me arrive an hour earlier that became a moot point when it ‘disappeared’ according to the desk attendant.  Flying another airline through Philadelphia got me in 2+ hours earlier but that airline was experiencing delays as well and I declined that option.  Little did I know that the 8:30 did would be ‘delayed’ until 9:15.  We actually boarded at 9:30 and then proceeded to sit at the gate until 11PM because the pilots were flying in from another city.  Apparently La Guardia was using only one runway.  A fact that was not reported  until 11PM.   Airline communications with passengers (i.e. CUSTOMERS) sucks wildly. 

So I have spent more than 14 hours at the airport and finally (I hope) am going to get somewhere.  I well realize that many people have much more horrific travel stories than this one.  I have never slept in an airport although I have been delayed overnight more than once but always managed to get out to a hotel or head back home.  The food choices at the Delta/Northwest terminal at LaGuardia are awful.   Unless you like to eat at Chili’s, Burger King or Sbarro.  Eating that stuff twice in one day is not a path to feeling good or good health in general. 

Hard to believe that the best experience of the day was getting through security in 8 minutes.  If this journey is its own reward the rest of the trip will have to be better.   I wonder how?