[McD] James Posted July 20, 2021 In 2013 Dairy Queen hired the Barkley advertising agency located in Kansas City to help them reinvent the brand and bolster consumer relations. "When Dairy Queen asked us to reinvent the legacy brand for modern consumer love, we knew we needed to deepen customer relationships and communicate a new brand idea through new channels. Through our strategic process, we uncovered this fundamental difference between DQ and fast food: Dairy Queen doesn’t serve fast food. It made food that created fans. We wanted to re-energize the brand in a way that rallied DQ fans, from the consumers and employees to the franchisees and towns. We also needed to get into the fast-food conversation and differentiate all at the same time. A new tagline, Fan Food. Not fast food. transformed every aspect of the brand from local store marketing to product development. And to kick it all off, we enlisted our #1 Fan and owner, Warren Buffett, to serve the First Blizzard of Summer." Since then Dairy Queen has embraced "This is Fan Food, not fast food" as their slogan, even though in 2019 they introduced "Happy Tastes Good" as yet another new slogan. Since then, Dairy Queen tends to use "Happy Tastes Good" more often than "This is Fan Food, not fast food", however, there's still plenty of instances of them using "This is Fan Food, not fast food" across numerous advertising endeavors to this very day. I'm curious to know how this advertising campaign has affected everyone's perception of Dairy Queen over the years. Do you think the Barkley advertising agency was successful in its rebranding endeavors? In your mind, do they serve Fan Food (an official trademark of the American Dairy Queen Corporation), or fast food? I regard this question as one that's purely subjective, so I don't consider there to be any right or wrong answers here. 1 Share this post Link to post
HavoX Posted July 20, 2021 1 minute ago, [McD]James said: "This is Fan Food, not fast food" I smell horseshit. Dairy Queen is, and has always been a fast food franchise in my heart. That's not going to change. 1 Share this post Link to post
Mr. Freeze Posted July 20, 2021 Shitty sodium and fat-filled sludge, on par with most fast food. 1 Share this post Link to post
Chezza Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) I'm not in their market so can't be part of a focus group but interesting approach. I'll give my 2 cents. I think labelling themselves fan food won't alter the perception of being fast food. But then again don't they just sell ice cream / desserts? I didn't think that would be labelled as fast... well food at all. It's a treat. Edited July 20, 2021 by Chezza 1 Share this post Link to post
Mr.Rocket Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) I say it depends what Dairy Queen you go to. lol no selection given.. :P 0 Share this post Link to post
DNSKILL5 Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) Dairy Queen has an entire menu very similar to others like Wendy’s or Hardee’s. They don’t just serve ice cream, so they’re just like any fast food chain. They just are more well known for their ice cream. 0 Share this post Link to post
[McD] James Posted July 20, 2021 26 minutes ago, Murdoch said: wtf is fan food? "Through our strategic process, we uncovered this fundamental difference between DQ and fast food: Dairy Queen doesn’t serve fast food. It made food that created fans." 0 Share this post Link to post
RDETalus Posted July 20, 2021 2 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said: Shitty sodium and fat-filled sludge, on par with most fast food. I don't think it's the sodium nor the fat that's doing it, it's the sugar 0 Share this post Link to post
Murdoch Posted July 20, 2021 1 hour ago, [McD]James said: "Through our strategic process, we uncovered this fundamental difference between DQ and fast food: Dairy Queen doesn’t serve fast food. It made food that created fans." So it's fast food with a side of pretentious marketing twaddle? 4 Share this post Link to post
JustCallMeKaito Posted July 20, 2021 Either way, I'm going to continue filling my face hole with their onion rings. 1 Share this post Link to post
Horus Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) Obviously it's fast food. This 'fan food' BS reminds me of when real estate companies tried to rebrand the South Bronx as 'the piano district' 2 Share this post Link to post
Doomkid Posted July 20, 2021 I just realized what "Fan Food" is: FAN FOOD IS A LOAD OF- ...garbage 2 Share this post Link to post
Taw Tu'lki Posted July 20, 2021 I don't know what means FAN FOOD. So, let it be FAST FOOD. 0 Share this post Link to post
Murdoch Posted July 20, 2021 I honestly know nothing about Dairy Queen other than it gets mentioned in a lot of American media. I figured it was an ice cream joint but doing some googling looks like they do a bit more. So yeah it's fast food. No one is going to call KFC or McDonalds anything other than fast food, and those places sure have their fans. 1 Share this post Link to post
Caffeine Freak Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, JustCallMeKaito said: Either way, I'm going to continue filling my face hole with their onion rings. Sounds like you're quite a fan of said onion rings. Mission Accomplished, DQ. 0 Share this post Link to post
Doomkid Posted July 20, 2021 Found yet another example of Fan Food in a cartoon: 3 Share this post Link to post
Cruduxy Pegg Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) It is stored, prepared and sold like other fast food. 0 Share this post Link to post
SOSU Posted July 20, 2021 I dunno what dairy queen is or what fan food is but i guess from the name that it's the queen of dairy and those are healthy so i hope their queen is too :D 1 Share this post Link to post
HavoX Posted July 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Doomkid said: Found yet another example of Fan Food in a cartoon: *snip* Now I know why my eldest brother hated that show. 0 Share this post Link to post
NoXion Posted July 20, 2021 Not being American I've never been to a Dairy Queen, but this "fan food" nonsense sounds 100% like pure marketing BS. Every brand of fast food tries pulling off something like that, in order to try and distance themselves from the fact that the primary appeal of their products owes a lot to sugar, salt and fat. 0 Share this post Link to post
Biodegradable Posted July 20, 2021 @Doomkid One of my favourite episodes. The bit where they mispronounce the health inspector's name as "Buttwhisker" still fucking kills me. 1 Share this post Link to post
DuckReconMajor Posted July 20, 2021 The Dairy Queen near me (as with most smaller ones) is a "treats" location, and as such does not serve the non ice-cream stuff. Frozen deserts make you feel colder, as would a fan. It is fan food. Thread over. 2 Share this post Link to post
out_of_service Posted July 20, 2021 It’s fast food no matter what. What does matter is it needs to get in my belly. 2 Share this post Link to post
Caffeine Freak Posted July 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Biodegradable said: @Doomkid One of my favourite episodes. The bit where they mispronounce the health inspector's name as "Buttwhisker" still fucking kills me. Favorite part for me is when the health inspector decides he's hungry, so they send him off with a box of their 'seasoned curly fries'. :D 1 Share this post Link to post
Skeletonpatch Posted July 20, 2021 I just ignore most fast-food marketing nonsense. Have you seen the BS A&W's been pulling? I still eat there because I like the food but the 'good food makes good food' idiocy offends me on a personal level as someone who lives on a farm. But I guess most people live in cities and are ignorant of that sort of stuff and that's who they're catering to. A Subway is supposed to open in my area soon and that genuinely agitates me, as I feel it should be a Dairy Queen. I hope it fails. 2 Share this post Link to post
[McD] James Posted July 20, 2021 2 hours ago, Skeletonpatch said: I just ignore most fast-food marketing nonsense. Have you seen the BS A&W's been pulling? I still eat there because I like the food but the 'good food makes good food' idiocy offends me on a personal level as someone who lives on a farm. But I guess most people live in cities and are ignorant of that sort of stuff and that's who they're catering to. A Subway is supposed to open in my area soon and that genuinely agitates me, as I feel it should be a Dairy Queen. I hope it fails. Have you tried A&W's new Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich? The guy eating it in the commercial gave it a 10/10. 0 Share this post Link to post
Skeletonpatch Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, [McD]James said: Have you tried A&W's new Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich? The guy eating it in the commercial gave it a 10/10. No, I have very specific tastes. I don't like most condiments on my burgers. I will pretty much only order a plain double teen burger or a chubby chicken basket from A&W. I don't eat at fast food restaurants enough to get bored of the monotony of my choices. I also hate those commercials where that generic A&W manager gives out free food and asks people for their opinions, as it's either completely staged or, if it isn't, they only use the most irritating people. I don't like the direction A&W's advertising has gone in over the past few years, but it's not enough to get me to drop them altogether since I do like the teen burger and A&W Root Beer is the greatest pop of all time. 3 Share this post Link to post
vyruss Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) After a quick experiment I can quickly say that Dairy Queen, regrettably, is undeniably NOT "Fan Food." Not only did my ceiling fan NOT eat the food, it scattered it about the room. From the large cola permeating the drywall and carpeting, to the mayonnaise and mustard strewn about the walls and on the blades of the fan, I can say with 100% confidence that my experiment proves it. EDIT: I did not read any of the previous posts to make this smart ass comment and had no idea about the Beavis and Butthead clip above. [On a serious note, I haven't consumed Dairy Queen food in a decade. A&W is much better.] Edited July 22, 2021 by vyruss 3 Share this post Link to post