Arby’s is an innovator in the fast food industry, introducing many new sandwiches of different sizes and flavor profiles. Some of these sandwiches needed new names or descriptors that were engaging, easy to understand and easy to read off of the menu board. Arby’s needs included developing:
- A 3-tiered nomenclature for their 3, 5 and 7 ounce offerings. The names needed to be short enough that they could be added to longer existing sandwich names, some of which were already three words long.
- A name for a sandwich loaded with turkey, roast beef and pepper bacon.
- A name for a new Angus beef sandwich which would telegraph premium quality beef with lots of extra goodies that deliver incredible flavor. A name that was more distinctive and ownable than just something like “The New Angus Sub.”
- A different name for their roast beef pepper jack sandwich that conveyed a Southwestern zingy flavor but without sounding too spicy or too downhome.
Of course, NameStormers needed inspiration which was quickly found at the local Arby’s as well as competitive venues. Not surprisingly, there was a direct correlation between the quantity of roast beef consumed and the number of names developed. So belts were loosened and, in one case, just totally removed as the creative juices flowed.
NameStormers developed and tested many of the top names with hundreds of consumers from around the country.
The winners included:
- The size designators, Classic / Mid / Max, which were well understood by consumers and short enough to append to any sandwich name.
- Triple Stack, which suggested three different meats without taking up too much menu board space.
- Ultimate Angus, which worked well followed by the style descriptor like Philly, Sub and more.
- Spicy Santa Fe, which conjured up just the right amount of Southwestern imagery and zingy flavor without over-promising or sounding too spicy.
All names selected fit the menu board and were easy to say without being a mouthful (and with your mouth full, too).