The Arby's Meat Mountain - A Well-Executed PR Campaign

Anyone who has been on the internet in the last two weeks has seen or heard about the new Arby's Meat Mountain - a Frankenstein concoction of greasy meats that would make even Joey Chestnut think twice before attacking it.

Seriously, look at that thing. I felt my heart skip a beat when I laid eyes on it. Image credit: CBS Chicago

Arby's claimed that this off-the-menu item only became an internet phenomenon as more consumers stated hearing about it and demanding its official existence. That this would become an organic request from customers isn't an entirely shocking way for the Meat Mountain to be put on the menu. When I worked at Jamba Juice, there were so many "secret" smoothies that customers would order that we ultimately had official recipes for all of them. I would go to random Jamba's around Portland to see if I could get the same ones and, sure enough, they all made them the same way. 

With this in mind, it wouldn't shock me if this was something that a few customers asked for, told their friends about and unintentionally started a grassroots effort to make the Meat Mountain an official Arby's sandwich. Customer is always right in the service industry, right?

Slate's L.V. Anderson didn't seem to think that this was an organic request from consumers, but, rather, a well-orchestrated PR campaign from Arby's that the company planted in a few strategic areas and watched the story go viral. She essentially concludes that it does look like that there was some organic demand for the sandwich, but that Arby's likely played a big part in pushing it forward.

Going off that premise, this is one hell of a job from the Arby's PR team. I am willing to bet that they heard from a few stores that said customers were requesting this and they saw an opportunity to turn it into a full-blown campaign. Landing pieces in major outlets across the country over a two week period is the definition of viral. The sandwich had its own hashtag on Twitter for a day or two.

Companies are always looking to take a campaign or story viral. It is enough to make a PR person's eyes roll so hard that they freeze. That response is generally warranted because what it takes for a story to go viral these days is still a bit of a mystery. There are certain elements of a viral campaign that will be essential for companies to have in place, but, at the end of the day, if customers don't take up the cause then the campaign will fall flat on its face. A lot of times it is dumb luck what catches on and what doesn't. But a company can help propel a campaign to viral status if it takes off with the public initially.

Arby's executed particularly well on a couple of tactics that helped the Meat Mountain really explode. First, they let the customers have control of the creation. As a consumer, if I hear that this product is being pushed solely by the company, it's motivations are obvious - sales and greater revenue. But since this demand and request for the sandwich came from the consumer and Arby's then gave in and added it to the menu, it gave it authenticity that wouldn't have existed from a traditional introduction. Putting the power in the hands of the consumer is a risky strategy, but it can pay huge dividends ultimately.

Second, Arby's let the buzz build for a while before it really addressed the sandwich. The company was fairly mum on it when it first started appearing across social channels and eyes slowly started turning towards them on when they would officially respond. Arby's timed its response well and extended the news cycle around the sandwich, which is no small feat when we're talking about fast food.

Third, they played the hero by giving the customer what they wanted. Obviously Arby's had to do cost-profit analysis to make sure that this sandwich made sense for them, but that's not how it is presented when the company "gives in" to the consumer demand. It demonstrates that the company values its customer base's opinion and is committed to making the sandwiches that they want to eat, gimmicky or not.

Sure, this campaign was a little too smooth and effective to have simply been organically created, but who cares? Arby's PR team should treat themselves to a steak dinner to celebrate because they earned it.