Digitally Integrated Campaign | Digital Tool Innovation
Since opening its doors in 1967, Wimpy’s mission has been to democratise the sit-down restaurant experience for every South African. In the years that followed, they would go on to prove that, at Wimpy, everyone is welcome. In the turbulent ‘80s, for instance, they became the first local restaurant to officially serve all races. In the ‘90s, they became the first local restaurant to introduce a braille menu. And, in 2021, Wimpy became the first local restaurant to… well, this was the one we needed to solve.
Challenge
We knew that Wimpy’s next milestone would have to be the grandest welcoming gesture of them all, something that made all South Africans from all backgrounds feel like Wimpy was their home away from home, a place where they are truly welcome. The problem is that South Africa is an incredibly diverse nation, so diverse that it has 11 official languages! Considering this, being all-inclusive would be a challenge.
Solution
The fact is, that nothing makes you feel more at home than being welcomed in your own language. Now imagine how welcome you’d feel if you could read the menu in your language? With this in mind, we decided to translate Wimpy’s menu into all 11 official languages, another South African first. Seeing as it wouldn’t be feasible to supply all 467 restaurants with menus in every language, we opted to print a QR code on the physical English menu. Once scanned, the QR code leads customers back to the Wimpy website where they can select to view the menu in any of the 11 official languages. We then decided to leverage off the success of our classic ‘I Love It When You Talk Foreign’ ad, which was still enjoying heavy rotation on social media, and named our new campaign…
‘WE LOVE IT WHEN YOU #TALKLOCAL’
We enlisted the help of local influencers from different backgrounds to spread the word; and also inspired our followers on social to try and order their favourites in another local language.
We then published a PR article titled ‘Wimpy Loves It When You Talk Local’ in the Daily Maverick, reminding people how everyone was a part of the Wimpy Family long before we became the Rainbow Nation. Of course, we also talked about our latest menu innovation, which enabled every South African to enjoy every Wimpy moment in every language. You’re welcome, Mzansi.
Results
4.9% Facebook engagement rate (Industry benchmark is 0.10%)
8.8% Twitter engagement rate (Industry benchmark is 0.12%)
572 383 People reached with our influencer posts
10 000 Engagements in 2 weeks
992 Daily Maverick article views (benchmark of 500 views per article)
3:25 sec Time spent on page (benchmark of 2:30)
6 638 New menu views
In the Digital Applications category and Best Integrated Multimedia Campaign.
