In a world focused on plant-based meat alternatives, Arby’s is planting a flag in the ground to promote meat. This is their meat strategy.
In this age of Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger, Arby’s is celebrating that their chain is not following the herd but will double down on selling meat products. They created a little stir in the food world by showing carrots made from meat – a play on the plant-based burgers appearing everywhere.
Meat Strategy
As a marketing fink, I’m thrilled to see someone differentiating themselves and following through on their strategy. As someone who hasn’t eaten red meat in 25 years, this isn’t about my food preference, but my appreciation of how strategy matters in a crowded marketplace.
Arby’s recently introduced the Marrot – a carrot made of meat.
Of course, it is a promotional gimmick, but it follows their meat first approach to marketing. Watch this video showing how they turn chicken into a carrot. They call these product Megetables.
If you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. Jim Tayler, Arby’s CMO
Three Questions
- Does your brand stand for something and do you demonstrate your core beliefs in your choices? Sometimes you show your brand’s unique point of difference by NOT doing something others in your category regularly do. In Arby’s case, by not selling a plant-based burger, they are living their brand’s core belief that meat matters.
- Have your results achieved the desired goals? The evidence of a successful strategy is growth, and it has to begin with insight. Arby’s has risen like a phoenix over the last decade through its emphasis on having “the meats.” They realized through research that their customer’s over-index against hunting and meat consumption. Why not give them what they want?
- Can you execute against the strategy at the store level? Arby’s had to create a different infrastructure to achieve its goal of selling eight different types of meats. Sometimes, a product like a venison burger is more about PR than revenue. But these novelty products create “talk triggers’, as Jay Baer calls them and helps spread word of mouth.
The failure of most brands is not understanding who they serve. Selling everybody everything means that you aren’t for anyone. Do you know what community or group of people you stand for?
Who you serve is the meat of the matter.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com The conversation is free, and we can explore working together.
Photo courtesy of Arby’s video and screenshot
