What's a Cloche? Funny Dairy Queen Campaign Spikes Merriam Webster Traffic

The New Dairy Queen A-1 Bacon Cheeseburger is the most premium burger the brand has ever created. So, Barkley, the brand’s agency created a spot with the most premium reveal. In the process, they drove traffic not only to their stores, but to an unexpected place, the dictionary. 

In a tweet last week, Merriam Webster revealed that searches for the word “cloche” have spiked in recent days. In fact, “Cloche” was the top trending word on the site for the early part of the week. Not so coincidentally, DQ began running the A-1 spot during the same period, which uses the word “cloche” and an actual cloche to reveal another cloche, which then reveals the new A1 Bacon Cheeseburger $5 Buck Lunch. 

The spot is the third in a new campaign that features the DQ Crew. Inspired by television shows like Parks and Rec and The Office, the campaign spans across broadcast and social, and is brought to life in a comedic, mockumentary style. Barkley partnered with TV veteran Fred Goss to capture everything from a training exercise to the unveiling of the trending cloche.

"This new campaign gives us a chance introduce Assistant Manager Alan and reintroduce one of our favorite French gardening terms of the 1860s," says Berk Wasserman, Barkley Group Creative Director.

Sadly, DQ’s reign at the top of the Merriam-Webster search results was short-lived. “Cloche” was knocked from the top spot by “salacious” — a crucial term in James Comey’s testimony about President Donald Trump.

But there is a silver lining for DQ. Last week, the “Cloche” spot drove the highest number of $5 Buck lunches sold in the history of the brand.