The Wendy?s Company is promoting the newest addition to its 4 for $4 menu, the Crispy Chicken BLT, through a mock news station Tumblr site featuring humorous YouTube stories, building on the chain?s use of microsites in previous social media campaigns.

Wendy?s fans will now be able to choose a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger or Crispy Chicken BLT as part of their 4 for $4 meal, which also includes fries, chicken nuggets and a beverage. To drum up anticipation for the new menu add-on, consumers can visit 444news.tumblr.com on their smartphones or desktops to view the promotional mock news segments, which take on a March Madness-themed approach.

?Is a mock news site on Tumblr a good way to reach younger consumers?? said James McNally, senior manager of business development at Prolific Interactive. ?Sure, but the issue is never if the platform is good enough. 

?There are tons of 18 to 34-year-olds on Tumblr, and they will engage with content that is relevant, funny, entertaining, etc. If Wendy's can create a fun experience with good content ? i.e. execute the campaign effectively ? then Tumblr is a good tactic for engaging its target audience.?

The new MVP
Wendy?s sought to make its 4 for $4 menu option even more enticing for consumers by adding a new player into the mix: the Crispy Chicken BLT. The fast-food chain is supporting this rollout with a three-pronged marketing campaign that manages to hit each of Wendy?s target demographics.

The first approach includes a new television spot, which will air during primetime broadcast programs on more than 35 Spanish and English language television networks, highlighting Wendy?s desire to effectively market to Spanish speakers.

Additionally, Wendy?s is entering into a partnership with Coca-Cola that will involve on-campus activations at 50 university campuses across the nation, where students will be able to join the celebration of the new addition to the 4 for $4 offer.

More importantly, the Baconator marketer is ensuring that it maintains a strong presence on social media as it ramps up to target younger consumers regardless of their location. Since millennials comprise of a significant portion of its main audience, Wendy?s is tapping into popular mobile trends in a bid to keep its brand at the forefront of their minds.

?We?ve had a lot of success connecting with our audience through social,? said Mike Bueno, director of digital marketing at Wendy?s. ?Moreover, social is now where many people discover and seek out news, so bringing our 4 for $4 Meal news to their feeds made a lot of sense. For us, it was ideal to break our news where news naturally lives.?

Consumers can visit 444news.tumblr.com on their mobile devices or desktops to view the mock online news station, which reports on topics related to the 4 for $4 menu option. The fake news segments also include references to ongoing social media conversations as well as humorous stories.

Once visitors reach the campaign microsite, they may scroll through the available 5 YouTube videos and select one for viewing.

The first video introduces individuals to the chosen lead anchor, and informs them that these segments will cover a wide range of subjects, including sports, weather and technology. The word ?food? is interspersed throughout every few topics mentioned, ensuring that consumers know Wendy?s products will be the focus.

In another video, the newscaster humorously tells viewers that the clip is a pre-recorded segment for a basketball game happening in real-time. She then compares the difficulty of picking March Madness bracket winners to choosing between the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and Crispy Chicken BLT.

Wendy?s has previously leveraged Tumblr microsites for its social media campaigns, which often attempt to tap into popular Internet humor or trends, such as memes and GIFs.

Wendy's relied on consumer interest in parodies with a recent mobile-optimized site that poked fun at "Freezy Diskz" frozen patties' supposed superiority to the chain?s juicy burgers, catering to a smartphone audience with shareable content (see story).

?When crafting digital content, we think mobile-first,? Mr. Bueno said. ?We know younger consumers prefer mobile, and so more and more content is viewed in a mobile context: small screens, muted volume and short attention spans. We design our digital experiences with these things in mind.?

Tumblr tricks and tips
Although most brands have been flocking to social networks such as Snapchat and Instagram, both of which boast heavy millennial user bases, Tumblr can be an effective platform for marketers that understand its cachet.

?Even in a Snapchat world, Tumblr is a somewhat unwieldy platform for brands ? its content ecosystem and paradigm is tied to a type of non-mainstream influencer and aesthetic that is hard for brands to pierce without seeming out of touch,? Prolific Interactive's Mr. McNally said. ?Some brands take the very safe (and frankly incredibly bland) Pinterest-style approach of just pinning content that fits a campaign or brand theme. 

?Other brands use Tumblr as a microsite, as Wendy's seems to be doing here,? he said. ?Ultimately, many of the same things that apply to other social platforms apply to Tumblr as well. Brands need to understand and respect the platform, its traditions, and its UX, then optimize their content for it, rather than cramming in pre-existing content.

?Brands need to give value to the user by honestly entertaining them. Miss the mark on that, and you're probably doing more harm than good. Furthermore, brands need to look at attribution and ROI differently than other campaigns; for Wendy's there may be few click-path KPIs available, so the brand needs to create content strong enough to build mindshare.?

Tumblr generally works best for short-form content that has a longer life span, meaning that it can be reblogged for several weeks and months while still maintaining relevance. However, brands that have a strong grasp on current pop culture trends can find a way to incorporate them into their own content, thereby giving users something clever which with they can interact.

?As long as fast food chains can get behind the above, and execute well, then Tumblr is a great place to be,? Mr. McNally said. ?The fast-food brand buying decisions that 18 to 34-year-olds make are influenced heavily by brand perception. 

?Having the funniest TV commercial or most billboards frankly isn't making any brand ?cool;? the real playing field for brand affinity is social, and Tumblr is a great place for brands to have these conversations.?