Male Gen-Z, Millennial Media Opps: Arby's ramps up digital spend (Score 57)

Arby's has been shifting its marketing strategy to focus on digital ads instead of national TV ads. So far this year, it spent about half of the amount it spent on national TV ads during the same time period of 2020, while nearly quadrupling digital spend. This strategy indicates it is trying to reach Gen-Z and millennial consumers more effectively. Sellers that can provide digital ad space should start contacting this company. This comes after the company brought in CMO Patrick Schwing about a year ago. 

According to iSpot, Arby's spent around $13.4m on national TV ads YTD, less than half (47%) of the $28.8m spent during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend equaled $116.8m, a 36% decline from $158.9m in 2019. This year, it placed ads during programming such as "College Basketball," "NBA Basketball," "9-1-1," "Friends," and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." 

Magellan reports Arby's placed about six podcast ads over the last year. 

Per Pathmatics, Arby's earned 1.5m impressions YTD through Facebook ads (49%), desktop video ads (24%), Instagram ads (23%), Twitter ads (3%) and mobile video ads (1%). It placed 100% of these ads site direct onto sites such as facebook.com, youtube.com, instagram.com, twitter.com and wlwt.com. It spent around $12.5m on digital display ads YTD, a significant jump from $3.5m spent during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend skyrocketed from $16.5m in 2019 to $50.5m in 2020. 

Sellers-- Arby's mostly targets Gen-Z and millennials men through digital display and national TV ads. It's TV ads tend to skew towards a slightly older millennial and female audience. Even thought it has cut national TV spend, it still allots a significant portion of its budget towards the channel. Arby's also invests in OOh, print, radio and local broadcast TV ads, per Kantar. Click here, to use Arby's restaurant locator to see where you may be able to offer local ad space. Sellers should reach out to this company offering relevant ad space to secure some of these extra ad dollars. 

Agency & martech readers-- Arby's works with media AOR Zenith Media, digital AOR Moxie and creative AOR Fallon Worldwide. We have not seen any changes to the roster since Schwing took over in 2020, so he is likely happy with these shops. I recommend looking for work elsewhere.