Why Wendy’s National Roast Day didn’t pass the vibe check for TikTok users

In 2018, Wendy's introduced National Roast Day, an annual event where brands and fans alike could offer themselves up for a sassy taunt from the fast food chain's signature redhead.

For the past few years, Twitter has been the platform of choice for this event, and it's been met with great success. However, when Wendy's decided to take their game to TikTok this year, they faced a new challenge: how to give their roasts a voice.

In the past, users could imagine the tone and style of the roast ‘delivery’ themselves, resulting in a more personalized experience. But now, Wendy's had to fill in the blanks of tone, inflection, and cadence to create a single, unified voice for all users.

Wendy's attempted to bridge this gap by introducing a digital avatar to deliver the roasts through video replies, but this decision ultimately had the opposite effect. Rather than building a connection, the avatar created further distance between the brand and its TikTok audience.

The Avatar

Simply put, while well designed, the Wendy’s Avatar unnecessarily filled in the blanks even further for users. Whether consciously or not, the user experience was shaped by the expressions, motions, and general vibe conveyed by the Avatar, leaving even less room for personal interpretation.

The Voice

This is my biggest point of concern in the campaign. It’s hard to give one specific reason as to why this voice was wrong for the Roast Challenge, so I’ve listed several (with accompanying examples).

Inauthentic: The voice actress's performances often made it clear to users that there was a team of writers behind the roasts, leading to a notable cringe felt by all. The distance felt between the delivery and the roasts themselves was palpable. Examples: 1, 2, 3

Theatrical: Upbeat, overly-enthusiastic, slightly musical. These are some ways I’d describe Wendy’s voice and none feel fitting for a world-renowned roaster, especially on TikTok. Examples: 1, 2, 3

Millennial: You know it when you hear it and Wendy’s embodied the stereotypically formal tone layered with a distinctly ‘quirky’, and at times, abrasive disposition. Examples: 1, 2, 3

The Outro

Every roast video was bookended with a branded outro screen. While harmless enough, it gave every one of their roasts an overly commercialized, formulaic feel that detracted from the spontaneity and authenticity that had made National Roast Day so successful in the first place.

With criticism out of the way, let’s dig into what Wendy’s could have done to garner a more positive response from TikTok users.

In lieu of the Avatar…

I would’ve recommended a static image of the classic Wendy’s character logo and nothing else. This would have emphasized the impact of each roast by leaving more room for user interpretation while playing into the evergreen appeal of lo-fi memes.

What’s more, with essentially just a static screen and a voiceover as the template, it could’ve made meme-ifying the entire concept much more accessible for users a la Barbie the Movie.

About the Voice…

In a nutshell, the voice needed to sound like it belonged to a member of Gen Z, not a professional voice actress. Wendy’s would’ve been wise to cast for this role within TikTok’s own creator community to find someone who could embody the casual, irreverent, yet nuanced tone that resonates with TikTok users.

Like the millennial voice, this is a know-when-you-hear-it deal as well, and leveraging a creator voice with proven resonance among Gen Z audiences would’ve been a far better strategic approach.

And depending on the creator talent leveraged, this approach could’ve added another layer of intrigue to the overall campaign by essentially integrating a “whodunit” element to the user experience.

And the Outro…

I’d remove it.

Overall, this campaign was overly-produced and out-of-touch with what appeals to the, namely Gen Z, masses of TikTok. That said, this was a classic case of a big brand team not understanding the nuances of the platform and as they soon discovered, the devil really does vibe in the details.

Funnily enough, I thought the roasts themselves, while varying in wit, were pretty sharp for the most part. I wholeheartedly feel it’s the above-discussed elements that dulled their impact for TikTok users.

Because of the overwhelming cross-brand engagement, it could be very easy for the Wendy’s team to frame this entire campaign as a success, but as their CMO recently stated, “It’s all about listening to our fans and meeting them where they are.” This year’s roasting efforts gave fans a lot to say and let’s hope Wendy’s is listening intently.