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Carl's Jr. Serves Up Steamy Ad
November 04, 2003
Playing off its TV commercials, the quick serve restaurant and its agency, Fastbridge, used Eyeblaster technology to promote big breasted chicken sandwiches tastefully yet humorously.
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Creative Notes
Firefox compatible.
Campaign Details
Client: Carl's Jr.
Creative Agency: Fastbridge – A Division of Initiative Media
Media Agency: Digital Motion
Technology Vendor: Eyeblaster
Publisher(s): iWon.com, Gorilla Nation, MP3.com, Theonion, UGO, Weather.com, RollingStone.com
Campaign Insight

Because the client wanted to extend an offline campaign online, it needed a high degree of consistency across all publishers on the buy. The Eyeblaster Platform enabled the agency to control the look and feel across multiple sites without the middleman of the publisher or vendor to achieve that consistent look, which was important in the fast-turnaround sector like QSR (quick serve restaurants). The agency chose the creative flexibility of the floating ad format to run the ad with no boundaries and the same music as the TV ads, for the most TV-like feel.
-- Samantha Voisin, Business Development Manager, Eyeblaster Western Region.


The main objective of this Eyeblaster campaign was promoting Carl’s Jr.’s new line of Big Charbroiled Chicken Sandwiches. Carl’s Jr. wanted to create awareness for its new sandwiches and let the public know that they had increased their chicken breast size.

The creative strategy was to consolidate the look and feel of the TV spot without losing the quality. The resulting Eyeblaster was a fun, humorous and effective TV-like interactive ad with a click-through to the Carl’s Jr. Website.
-- WideGroup: : Digital Motion

Editor's Note
Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.
The Panel

OK, I’ll admit…I’m slightly biased in terms of my selection this week as I used to work for a fast food chicken chain, Nando’s, in South Africa. Like this week’s selection, the advertising for Nando’s was always edgy and irreverent. In some cases, the active minority would cry fowl when campaigns became a little too risqué. When this happened, we would normally send out a mildly apologetic letter and a voucher for free chicken. Interestingly enough, 100% of the vouchers were redeemed within hours of receipt.

So you’ll forgive me if my nostalgia gets the better of me. Fortunately, I’m not alone. This creative was one of the finalists at the Third Eyeblaster Awards, which gets decided tonight in New York City.

In this particular execution, the hot chick strolls out from the seemingly benign 300x250 and the insider humor, “most sites prohibit showing large breasts…” is immediately paid off and clarified by the sandwich resolve.

I thought the execution was surprisingly fresh and tastefully handled by the strategically placed mini-banner. I also liked the dimmed background coloring which helped the creative pop against the busy backdrop.

All in all, clucking good (sorry, Nando’s humor again).

Footnote: Submissions are judged by a panel of industry experts from and based on the following criteria: how the creative captures the specific customer; how it meets the brand's business needs; impact of execution; and creativity. If you would like your creative considered for Creative Showcase, send an email to creative@imediaconnection.com.