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Buffalo Wild Wings recruits a familiar face for Super Bowl social campaign


The restaurant will roll out traditional and digital spots in support of its What the Favre campaign, in addition to an expansive social media component that will feature Mr. Favre interacting with the brand on his own social media channels. Fans of both Mr. Favre and chicken wings can join the conversation through the hashtag #HitTheButton. 

?The ?What the Favre?!? multichannel campaign uses TV, social media and digital channels to take fans on a journey as Brett Favre obsesses over who, or what, might have been behind his all-time interception record,? said Bob Ruhland, vice president of marketing at Buffalo Wild Wings. ?In addition to leveraging Brett?s social channels to unveil new clues and evidence, we?ll also be introducing a 360 photo on Facebook of Brett?s ?conspiracy wall? that allows fans to explore the inner-workings of his theory and evidence.

?For fans across Buffalo Wild Wings 1,200 restaurants, we?ve also introduced a new custom branded Snapchat Geofilter so fans can showcase their own game-changing moments during games and join the #HitTheButton conversation,? he said. ?This will run through Super Bowl Sunday.?

?On Super Bowl Sunday, we?ll also be engaging and responding to fans in real-time who are wondering if B-Dubs is behind any unexpected moments and plays.?

Content shelf-life
The campaign focuses on the NFL career interception record owned by Mr. Favre, who looks to shuttle responsibility for the dubious honor onto the restaurant chain. Other NFL stars such as standout rookie Dak Prescott will also be featured.

The company is relying heavily on social to establish a narrative stream for the campaign, and is looking at this as an opportunity to craft content that will communicate brand message longer than the time frame Super Bowl hype provides.


?We're leaning heavily on social as a video channel in part because it so seamlessly shifts between desktop and mobile,? Mr. Ruhland said. ?During last weekend's Championship games we saw the vast majority of our activity coming from mobile, which is why we're leaning on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook as our primary digital video channels.?

Super Bowl marketing
It should come as no surprise that Buffalo Wild Wings has a history of involving itself with college football bowl games, both at the collegiate and professional levels. Last month, it buoyed its brand partnership with college football?s Citrus Bowl with a variety of social media activations, including custom Snapchat filters and a Q&A with the game?s head coaches on Twitter (see story). 

And earlier this week, PepsiCo announced that it will roll out a number of digital and mobile-centric offerings on Super Bowl Sunday, including partnering with Snapchat for to deploy engagements for live content (see story). 


?Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest days of the year for Buffalo Wild Wings,? Mr. Ruhland said. ?Last year, we sold 12.5 million wings on Super Bowl Sunday. 

?This year, we felt that it was equally as important for fans to see Buffalo Wild Wings is part of the social conversation leading up to and around the Super Bowl. Through this multichannel campaign, we?re able to engage with fans where they are talking about the game and immerse them in a long-form story that creates more relevancy for our brand online and offline around one of the biggest events on the sports calendar.?