Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s were looking to launch their new, super indulgent Prime Rib Menu which just happened to fall at the onset of a global recession. So they set out to find a way to promote these incredible new items, while helping customers experience them more easily. 

The solution? The Prime Rib Venture: a (definitely legal) investment opportunity where customers could get their hands on the new Carl’s Jr. & Hardee’s Prime Rib Menu at a fraction of the cost. All they had to do was invest just $1 to receive up to $9 of beefy returns in the form of Carl’s/Hardee’s gift cards.

In the first 20 minutes of launching the venture, all 1,500 Round 1 investments were taken. So we opened up a second round of investment and doubled the number of slots. And when all 5,000 of those sold out too, we did it again. 

In the end, 16,000 Prime Rib investors bought in and were rewarded with a huge ROI. The Venture’s launch contributed to a 77% spike across all prime rib sales, helping Carl’s Jr. achieve double QSR category sales.

Oh, and we made Lance Bass relevant again.