Background

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s were officially entering the chicken wars with their new hand-breaded chicken sandwich. Problem was, they were launching months after everyone else with a much more limited budget. So instead of talking smack or trying to engage in the cluttered and noisy chicken war, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s decided to let their hand-breaded chicken sandwich speak for itself. 

 Idea

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s have been handbreading their chicken for over a decade. It’s a time consuming, expensive process that they do around the clock, every day of the week. You could even say they have a bit of a hand-breading obsession… just like their target market, who data show have a clear chicken sandwich obsession themselves. So for the release of their new sandwich, Carl’s Jr & Hardee’s launched a full blown hand-breading fetish on the fastest growing platform of the pandemic: OnlyFans. 

The official Hot and Hand-breaded OnlyFans page offered over sixty five pieces of exclusive (and steamy) hand-breading content. Each video, gif and photo felt native to the platform,  while sensually highlighting every step of the process and the ingredients of the sandwich.  Fan favorites included “Crispy Touchy,” “Hot ‘N Sticky,” “Fun with Buns” and “Bath Time.” To help spread the word and expand Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s audience,  Vice Munchies created exclusive OnlyFans content that turned the new hand-breaded chicken sandwich into a full ASMR experience.

Results:

The campaign garnered double the amount of typical social chatter for Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, while increasing foot traffic to restaurants by over 15%. Sandwich sales also outperformed forecasts by 57%, proving once and for all, it’s better to make chicken sandwich love, not chicken sandwich war.