It’s rough out there for QSR and fast casual marketers. From decreasing customer retention and loyalty, the increasing cost of food, the growing importance of value promotions and the challenge of getting more customers in the door, QSR marketers need to do more, oftentimes with less money, in a faster time frame to meet the demands of consumers. Today’s QSR consumers are more budget conscious while also chasing the latest promotion or new product featured on social media. Marketers may feel like they are stuck on a hamster wheel trying to keep up with the brand demands and changing customers’ needs and desires, while keeping budgets in check. In times like these, the partners you choose for advertising and marketing support matter more than ever.
In the past, most QSR brands had a single agency of record (AOR) advertising partner.
Million-dollar accounts with teams of dozens to help support all aspects of advertising and creativity—from account management to media buying, to creative, social, packaging, design, experiential and everything in between. The one-stop shop approach does serve a purpose but the new fast-paced world of QSR requires a new type of partner that can be as agile and nimble as the quickly changing trends. AORs have the reputation of working at a glacial pace. Meetings about meetings, weeks to get approvals and the worst part, a revolving door of talent without consistency. And not to mention the archaic idea of a 12-month contract with a semi-fixed scope that can run upward of seven figures.
There are a variety of new companies that provide an alternative to the large AOR. These shops offer a bespoke service built around your marketing needs—whether it is a specialized service or more of a network model where the best talent is brought in to help on bespoke tasks, rather than a kitchen sink model. As QSR’s marketing challenges are more diverse, complicated and seemingly pop up overnight, the talent to address these challenges needs to be equally as nimble and fast thinking.
These smaller agencies and network models have the advantage of much lower overhead, minimal layers and access to exceptional talent, which translates to cost savings and sharper output. They can also move fast, which is a necessity when you are trying to keep up with rapidly evolving consumer preferences. Think days and weeks instead of months and even years to the answers. And when time equals money, this can result in huge cost savings, not to mention manpower.
QSR and fast casual brands are catching on to this approach. Firehouse Subs recently switched to a multi-agency model to “ignite creative firepower,” according to a release. KFC announced it was switching to a roster model, which includes its former agency of record along with a variety of other specialized shops. Time will tell if other large brands will forgo their agency of record for smaller, independent and specialized shops. But the brands that do decide to shake up their advertising partner approach will likely be spending less money, getting more value and in a much faster timeframe.
Brett Banker is the co-founder of X&O, a new approach to marketing with big ideas, at pace. Brett is the former managing partner at Anomaly where he worked on NFL, P&G, Panera, MLB, and Pfizer.
