CARPINTERIA Calif. The TV spots are real but the restaurant is fake in a new campaign for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.
The campaign promotes the Black Angus beef burgers at both chains and the new Prime Rib Thickburger at Hardee’s by recording customer reactions at the fake “Grade A Restaurant” when they’re told that the $14 to $20 burgers they’d just eaten were actually the lower-priced burgers served at Carl’s Jr. ad Hardee’s.
The restaurant was specifically built to resemble a gourmet restaurant, complete with valet parking, white linen tablecloths, restaurant reviews at the entrance, a framed profile of the fictional “Chef Hooper” and even a restaurant website.
Everyone in the spots is an actor except for the unwitting mark and a friend, who’s in on the joke. Reactions of the real customers were recorded by hidden cameras and microphones.
The campaign, which breaks today in Hardee’s markets and June 22 in Carl’s Jr. markets, was created by Mendelsohn Zien of Los Angeles, and is reminiscent of Burger King’s “Whopper Freakout” campaign, which broke late last year. Reactions of real customers were recorded when they were told that Burger King had discontinued selling the Whopper. The campaign was credited with helping the chain achieve a 4.2-percent increase in domestic same-store sales during the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007.
The 1,141-unit Carl's Jr. and 1,926-unit Hardee's are divisions of CKE Restaurants Inc., based here.
