Wendy's Gets First New Logo in 30 Years

[He_Man]

I like their baked potatoes. Do they have wifi in their restaurants? That in my opinion is where McDonalds does well, coffee for $1 and free wifi, how can you beat that?

Free coffee and free wifi.

 

[Trader]

OK you latent conspiracy theorists, what else is changing?

Will “Where’s the beef?” be changed to “What’s beef?” to please PETA?

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

Wendy’s is unveiling a new logo for the first time in almost three decades—but don’t worry, it still features the familiar redheaded girl with the freckles and pigtails.

http://img1-cdn.newser.com/image/905386-0-20121012113551.jpeg

Story at Newser.

The “red-headed girl with freckles” is Wendy Thomas, Dave Thomas’ (the founder of the chain) daughter and the current voice and face of the franchise.

http://www.adweek.com/files/adfreak/6a00d8341c51c053ef0133f5cae90c970b-450wi

 

[stinkcat_14]

Free coffee and free wifi.

Who offers that?

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

Who offers that?

Most hotels.

 

[He_Man]

Who offers that?

Dunno, but you asked what could be better, so I answered. I have more, too.

 

[Loren_1of6]

This new logo is so much less involved than the old one, making it quicker to upload and read. It has, sadly, been over simplified to cater to our instant gratification generation.

 

[BroomWagon]

Dave Thomas himself was a bit of an inspiration, it was always a big deal about how he was an adopted child.

amazon.com/Daves-Way-R-David-Thomas/dp/0425135012/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I read one of his books, thought of him as a bit of a hero… but I’ve got to think the Wendy’s menu, now more healthy, might have gotten to him meaning lots of red meat.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Thomas_(American_businessman

…was an American businessman and philanthropist.

 

[ringil]

Yeah, Dave Thomas always seemed like a nice guy.

 

[MarcoPolo]

As a graphics professional, here’s my take. They recently changed up the packaging of their hamburger and fries, but promotion of this “change” was limited to word of mouth and maybe some ads I haven’t seen. They also not long ago took the #2 market share from Burger King (both are far behind McDonald’s in sales). Passing Burger King could have been from that first change, I don’t know. Such things can be tricky to quantify. But they probably paid some advertising agency a fortune and they were told to change the look of the logo so that passing it on the street immediately signals “change.” And people will be induced into thinking “Hey, what’s up with Wendy’s? We should check it out.” And they are hoping to take more market share in this way. With the new logo, you see that they retained the recognizable pigtail girl. That is their “brand.” Without her image still there, it could look like some other “Wendy’s” restaurant unrelated to the fast-food chain. So they retained a bit of the past, but nixed the “old-fashioned” style of the logo for a more modern scribbly logo - not sure what the market data says about the appeal of that for fast food, but it is still red which is native to restaurants as it evokes tasty food (i.e. ketchup, tomatoes, pizza sauce, watermelon, lots of yummy foods are red).

So we’ll see how this helps their bottom line, cuz that’s what it’s all about.

 

[Joe_5859]

As a graphics professional, here’s my take. They recently changed up the packaging of their hamburger and fries, but promotion of this “change” was limited to word of mouth and maybe some ads I haven’t seen. They also not long ago took the #2 market share from Burger King (both are far behind McDonald’s in sales). Passing Burger King could have been from that first change, I don’t know. Such things can be tricky to quantify. But they probably paid some advertising agency a fortune and they were told to change the look of the logo so that passing it on the street immediately signals “change.” And people will be induced into thinking “Hey, what’s up with Wendy’s? We should check it out.” And they are hoping to take more market share in this way. With the new logo, you see that they retained the recognizable pigtail girl. That is their “brand.” Without her image still there, it could look like some other “Wendy’s” restaurant unrelated to the fast-food chain. So they retained a bit of the past, but nixed the “old-fashioned” style of the logo for a more modern scribbly logo - not sure what the market data says about the appeal of that for fast food, but it is still red which is native to restaurants as it evokes tasty food (i.e. ketchup, tomatoes, pizza sauce, watermelon, lots of yummy foods are red).

So we’ll see how this helps their bottom line, cuz that’s what it’s all about.

I remember reading once of some psychological studies which showed that the colors yellow and red can actually trigger feelings of hunger. Then I looked around and noticed that every single fast food place uses those two colors in their color scheme.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

As a graphics professional, here’s my take. They recently changed up the packaging of their hamburger and fries, but promotion of this “change” was limited to word of mouth and maybe some ads I haven’t seen. They also not long ago took the #2 market share from Burger King (both are far behind McDonald’s in sales). Passing Burger King could have been from that first change, I don’t know. Such things can be tricky to quantify. But they probably paid some advertising agency a fortune and they were told to change the look of the logo so that passing it on the street immediately signals “change.” And people will be induced into thinking “Hey, what’s up with Wendy’s? We should check it out.” And they are hoping to take more market share in this way. With the new logo, you see that they retained the recognizable pigtail girl. That is their “brand.” Without her image still there, it could look like some other “Wendy’s” restaurant unrelated to the fast-food chain. So they retained a bit of the past, but nixed the “old-fashioned” style of the logo for a more modern scribbly logo - not sure what the market data says about the appeal of that for fast food, but it is still red which is native to restaurants as it evokes tasty food (i.e. ketchup, tomatoes, pizza sauce, watermelon, lots of yummy foods are red).

So we’ll see how this helps their bottom line, cuz that’s what it’s all about.

They actually did a complete overhaul of their burgers. They market tested the roll out and the new product is pretty good. My favorite burger, when I am not around a Five Guys. My kids also prefer Wendy’s to McDs.

 

[BroomWagon]

I remember reading once of some psychological studies which showed that the colors yellow and red can actually trigger feelings of hunger. Then I looked around and noticed that every single fast food place uses those two colors in their color scheme.

Interesting comment.

Mostly true…

The Grand daddy of hamburger houses White Castle doesn’t fit that mode, White Castle established at least in the 1930s, maybe earlier.

Kentucky Fried Chicken where in fact, Wendy’s Founder Dave Thomas worked prior to Wendy’s has those picnic colors that seem to go with fried chicken…

But most of the Burger joints do I think, Burger King, Sonic, Wendy’s, etc. McDonald’s has a lot of yellow certainly.

 

[YoungTradCath]

I dislike the change. I think some updating could have been done, but this went too far.

 

[DoGodsBidding]

The “red-headed girl with freckles” is Wendy Thomas, Dave Thomas’ (the founder of the chain) daughter and the current voice and face of the franchise.

http://www.adweek.com/files/adfreak/6a00d8341c51c053ef0133f5cae90c970b-450wi

I met both of them at an opening of a new store in Canada in the 90’s. We were on vacation with some friends, and we heard about the store opening and Dave and Wendy’s appearance on the radio, and that they would be there at the same time we were passing through. We were hungry anyway and we like their food, so we stopped for a bite. Both of them were very nice.

DGB