Strategy December 21, 2017
Arby's Rewards Fans With Meat Sweats
For the latest in carnivore couture, look no further than Arby’s, the chain that purports to “have the meats.” The fast-food restaurant known for roast beef is rewarding its biggest fans with custom sweat suits, covered head to toe with close-up photorealistic images of sliced meat.
The sweat suits feature an elastic waistband, “built-in bacon-patterned warming pockets” and a “retractable bacon-patterned venting hood for maximum temperature control,” according to a press release from the brand. The custom sweats are a reward for select customers who shared their 2017 “feats of meat” on social media, whether that entailed scaling Arby’s epic Meat Mountain or smoking ribs to perfection on a grill.
Several worthy meat lovers have already received their comfy reward in the mail, posting selfies sporting their new duds on social networks. The sweat suit apparently arrives in a bright red plastic envelope with the hashtag #MeatSweats in bold, white letters across the front. A Twitter user with the handle @StSquiggy, who had posted a photo of Arby’s Meat Mountain sandwich back in April, received a message from the sandwich’s maker earlier this month, telling him that “a conquering carnivore should dress the part.” A few days later, @StSquiggy posted: “My #meatsweats came in, AND THEY’RE GLORIOUS.” Clearly, Arby’s has struck a chord with its fan base.
Arby’s meat sweats cap off a year’s worth of fast-food fashion. KFC started selling drumstick socks, “finger-lickin good” necklaces and other colonel-related swag online over the summer. McDonald’s created a Big Mac onesie as part of a limited-time merch collection. Taco Bell teamed up with Forever 21 to start a spicy apparel line. And in 2016, Pizza Hut launched a line of Hut Swag.