National weeklies to gain Arby's TV frustration

by Mark Schoifet

Arby's is taking its "Go for the Lean" advertising campaign to the four-color pages of Time, Newsweek, People and Sports Illustrated.

Fast-food advertising in the slick national weeklies is practically unheard of, although several chains are reportedly studying the medium. The space is usually reserved for the heavyweight-packaged-goods companies, such as Beatrice, Philip Morris and Johnson & Johnson.

Most restaurant chains prefer instead to use local newspapers for print, and television if it's affordable in a particular market.

On a national level, Arby's, the 1,440-unit roast-beef chain, finds it frustrating to compete on network television with the larger fast feeders. In 1984, for example, Arby's spent $4.4 million on network buys, compared with, say, Wendy's, which dished out almost $40 million.

Arby's magazine ad features charts, product shots, a coupon for a discount and copy explaining how the chain's food fits in well with a nutrition-conscious lifestyle. "Eating right is nothing new at Arby's" the ad says, "because we've offered the Lean Advantage since the day we sold our first roast beef sandwich 21 years ago."

With pass-along estimates taken into account, the ads are expected to reach 90 million adults in the United States, said Tom Whitley, marketing vice president of the Arby's Franchise Association.

"With the rising cost of network television, this is actually more efficient to get to a consumer on a per-1,000 basis," Whitley said.

Arby's said its nutrition message is more suitable to a magazine format than a generic slogan like "It's a good time for the great taste of McDonald's."

"You lose the sound and motion you get on television," said Ken Brown of Grey Advertising, which produced the ads. "But with our message, the nutrition theme, it gives us a chance to lay it all out for the reader. Plus, there's a little bit of a shock value when you see the ad in a magazine."

Arby's is also running its second round of the "Go for the Lean" television spots, this time in some choice positions.

Which came first?: Two commercials, one by McDonald's and the other by Burger King, look surprisingly similar. The spots in question: McDonald's "New Glasses," which depicts a young girl getting her first pair of spectacles, and "Lost Glasses," a Burger King commercial where a young woman can't find hers. One can easily lose sight of which is which.

Hold the soy sauce: Speaking of McDonald's, the chain's Japanese division, which operates more than 500 units in the Land of the Rising Sun, is underwriting the month-long Tokyo production of "42nd Street," the Broadway musical.

"I am continuously concerned about McDonald's contribution to Japanese culture," said Den Fujita, president of McDonald's Japan, "and always seek new ways in which the Japanese people can learn more about American culture."

Fujita is known as the man who brought the hamburger to the Japanese. They had been primarily eating fish and rice for 2,000 years.

"It then seemed to me that if I was able to teach the Japanese people to eat hamburgers, their eating habits would change, as would their physicial strength and height," Fujita said.

Fujita said are growing has proved correct. "Japanese people are growing taller . . . [and] rice consumption has decreased while McDonald's has become the No. 1 restaurant in sales and profit."