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Gen-Z Opps: Friendly's Restaurants hires CMO, resumes digital advertising (Score 76)

Friendly's Restaurants, the parent company of Friendly's Ice Cream, welcomed David Ellis as its CMO earlier this month. Ellis joined from Uncle Julio's where he was also the CMO. 

In addition, Friendly's promoted Sylvia Becker to marketing VP. Becker has worked with the company for eight years and was most recently the senior director of its media services.

These leadership shifts signal an increased focus on marketing, which I expect to make Friendly's ad spend continue rising.

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company was acquired by Amici Partners Group. Since then, its new ownership has focused largely on menu innovation, a refreshed marketing program and better overall customer experiences. This acquisition may be at least partially behind the increases in Friendly's spend.

The company didn't invest in digital ads in 2020 due to pandemic-related struggles, but Pathmatics reports it has spent roughly $717.6k so far this year. This amount has already reached 10% more than the roughly $651.5k that Friendly's spend in all of 2019. It has earned around 93.9m digital impressions YTD via Facebook (51%) and Instagram (49%) ads.

Many of the digital ads Friendly's is placing right now promote its app. Judging by the company's recent and sharp increase in digital spend, along with its reliance on Facebook and Instagram advertising, it's primarily targeting Gen-Z right now. To even more effectively reach this relatively younger audience, Friendly's new CMO may lead it to expand into additional digital channels such as OTT and/or podcast. According to Kantar data, Friendly's also invests in OOH and local broadcast.

Agency & martech readers - Newly-hired CMOs often conduct agency reviews, and the chances that Ellis might do so are even higher due to Friendly's recent acquisition and its 2019).

**Note: Friendly's emails are notoriously difficult to confirm, and there is now the added challenge of them potentially changing under new ownership; we are working to confirm what we can and will update as soon as we know more.**