Carl’s Jr. had been known for being an iconic, provocative brand, grounded in California roots, and famous for serving big, juicy burgers. Innovation ran through their DNA and they took pride in making their customers food dreams an everyday reality.

But in late 2018 and early 2019, there was a softening in the QSR category as a whole. With endless food innovation from competitors, and limited time novelty products completely saturating the market, Carl’s Jr. was losing sales, losing relevance to the competition, and arguably the biggest bummer of all, losing their “mojo.”

We knew if they were going to regain their status as the provocative foil to traditional QSR brands, we had to get them into cultural conversation. We had to leverage their existing, foundational brand pillar of innovation, rooted in the forefront of today’s culture.

Doing so, would get us talked about, and hopefully, get our mojo back.

26% of Americans have tried CBD at least once in the past two years (Consumer Reports Nationally Representative Survey, July 2019), with 40% of them being between the ages of 18-29.

CBD was emerging as an edgy cultural phenomenon — our customers were experimenting with putting it in everything from gummies, to teas, and even quinoa salads.

But, yet, it had never been placed on a fast-food menu.

We created the Rocky Mountain High Cheeseburger Delight — America’s first CBD infused burger. The Rocky Mountain High Cheeseburger Delight was a never-been-done-before, first-to-the-category cheeseburger slathered with a CBD-infused Santa Fe sauce.

Our target audience was well-aligned with what we were trying to reinforce: innovation and non-conformity.

Enter “Food is Lifers.”

They skewed slightly male, were ethnically diverse, and had a higher than average income. As individuals, they were open-minded and spontaneous.

Their desire for new experiences and ideas meant that they were looking for unique foods to enjoy. And unlike today’s stereotypical “foodies,” they frequently ate at QSRs.

Next, we looked at today’s cultural landscape and what might be influencing this audience. We saw that the legalization of marijuana (and the subsequent explosion of cannabis products) was highly topical.

Mission: Get Our Mojo Back

In an effort to reignite their cultural relevance, we needed to own a moment in time where we were top of mind for being edgy and for the innovative food we offer.

As the trailblazer of the cannabis movement, we decided Denver was the perfect launch city.

We sold it on 4/20, a day that had started as a small holiday for hippies to meet and smoke marijuana but that had evolved into a global celebration of all things cannabis culture.

Any budget had to go towards sourcing ingredients, so any promotion had to be done at no cost.

Two weeks before launch, we released an organic video showing a guy using a Carl’s Jr. cup as a vaping device. The video ended with, “Coming Soon.” People were intrigued to say the least.

Two days before 4/20, we released an organic post on Carl’s Jr. social channels announcing the limited time menu offering.

We also reached out to news outlets to see if they’d be interested in talking about the Rocky Mountain High Cheeseburger Delight.

The results were absolutely off the charts.

Although there was no budget for promotion, we set our expectations high for the buzz we’d get. Not only did we sell out the burger before EOD, we over-performed against our objectives:

Earned Media Impressions: We were picked up by Associated Press, Today.com, BuzzFeed, Fortune, USA Today and Mashable to name just a few. The morning started with broadcast coverage on the Today Show and The Talk. CNN picked us up and even sent a camera crew to shoot content for a potential documentary with Carl’s Jr. executives. The day concluded in the late-night TV monologues of both Jimmy Kimmel and James Corden. Overall, we organically earned ourselves a whopping 4.8 billion media impressions.

Increased Brand Engagement: We saw impressions rise 391% above average and mentions rise 781% above average on social. Overall, there were 111 million social impressions across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube (+397% over benchmark).