$100.00
Get up to $100.00 ads credit for new account!
Find out how

Increasing brand awareness and building engagement on TikTok through National Roast Day

Wendy's National Roast Day
37.4 %
lift in ad recall
28.1 %
lift in awareness
4.5 %
FSQ behavioral lift
The objective

Bringing Roast Day to TikTok

Wendy’s is a beloved and iconic fast-food brand with global reach. Wendy’s is different, from its square hamburger patties (“we don't cut corners!”) to its iconic Frosty dessert. That unique branding style extends to their social media presence, too.


In 2018, Wendy's created "National Roast Day," an original holiday inviting fans to engage in playful roasting with the brand on social. In 2023, Wendy's evolved the holiday into a video-first campaign on TikTok, leading to the biggest National Roast Day to-date.


The solution

Bring Wendy to life on TikTok spark engagement and drive user participation

To bring "Roast Day" to TikTok, Wendy's created a brand-new way to engage with fans. For the first time in history, the brand dished out roasts with a new animated version of Wendy. The iconic Wendy's logo came to life to engage with her fans, playfully roasting, stitching and dueting. Brave brands and fans alike lined up to be #roasted by everyone’s favorite redhead for three consecutive days.


Wendy's leveraged TopFeed and In-Feed Ads to spark engagement and drive user participation on the platform. Specifically, the brand invested in TopFeed to drive awareness and build hype through teaser content prior to the official launch of Roast Day, while using In-Feed Ads with Focused View to maximize engagement. The Focused View objective offers a way for advertisers to drive brand impact by ensuring their ads are shown to users who are truly paying attention — to users who are both emotionally and tangibly engaged.


Wendy's relied on organic tools such as duetting and stitching to make the advertising content feel natural to the platform, leading to further engagement from users. Creative was designed TikTok-first, in real time, during the flight. The brand even had a live voice actor in studio recording the roasts throughout the day! To conclude, Wendy's ran a Brand Lift Study to capture the incremental impact of the campaign.


This multi-pronged approach bolstered Wendy’s overall presence on TikTok and drove reach, awareness, and brand love. TikTok's innovative ad solutions allowed Wendy's to extend one of their most iconic campaigns to a new environment, one that specifically craves innovation and creativity.



The results

This campaign is on fire!

Wendy's Roast Day campaign, fueled by TopFeed and In-Feed Ads, led to mass reach and authentic user engagement for the brand. The campaign amassed 116 million total views of #NationalRoast Day, resulted in 30% reach, and led to an increase in 153,900 followers for the brand. Additionally, Wendy's saw an increase in store visits through foot traffic metrics, specifically a 4.5% increase in store visit BVR lift against Focused View In-Feed Ads per Foursquare. With a brand-forward campaign, Wendy's succeeded in directing people to the website and driving sales. Looking at the results of the Brand Lift Study, Wendy's saw a 37.4% lift in Ad Recall and a 28.1% lift in Awareness.


Ultimately, Wendy's learned that TikTok rewards creativity, specifically how developing unique content results in immense lift in ad recall and awareness, leading to positive business outcomes. With this kind of success, Wendy's will continue to leverage TikTok's innovative ad solutions to drive brand engagement and has plans to continue developing Roast Day each year on the platform with Virtual Wendy.

Ready to get started?

Sign up for our newsletter

By clicking the "Sign Up" button, you confirm your consent to receiving the TikTok for Business Newsletter and the latest updates, news, and events from TikTok for Business. Your information will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You may opt out at any time.

TikTok For Business

Limited Period Offer: Spend $100, Get $100 | Spend $500, Get $500 | Spend $1500, Get $1500 + 1-to-1 Expert Support

Terms & Conditions:
  1. To activate this offer, launch your TikTok ad campaign and spend according to the above mentioned tiers within 30 days from registration. Based on your advertising spend, only one of the offer tiers will be applied to your account and you can not use the free credits to avail the next tier.
  2. New registered advertisers are eligible for the offer if they fulfill the following criteria:
    1. The registered advertisers have a self-serve SMB account
    2. The new advertising account is not an Agency/Business Center created account or a TikTok Shop account
    3. Only one new advertising account under one new TikTok For Business account is eligible for this offer.
    4. Multiple advertising accounts under one TikTok For Business account, or a TikTok For Business account with an existing active advertising account are not eligible for this offer.
  3. Provided all eligibility checks are met, credit will be applied to your TikTok For Business account within 7 days - after you cross the highest spend threshold or after the spend accumulation period of 30 days.
  4. If the advertising credit is not fully utilized, it shall automatically expire by 2023/12/31.
  5. You can avail onboarding support after you setup your payment profile and get your account approved.
  6. This offer is contingent upon the advertising account being in compliance with all TikTok advertising policies and general TikTok Coupon Terms.
Get Started
Got it