• by Aaron Baar , June 3, 2009

Italian restaurant chain Fazoli's looks to walk the line between fast-food chains and slightly more expensive quick-service chains with a new advertising campaign.

The effort, from agency Bohan in Nashville, Tenn., takes a dual approach in two television spots. The first, intended to cut into the quick-service chains, shows a man at a restaurant table accompanied by a talking stomach and a talking wallet. Both the stomach and wallet say they would rather eat at Fazoli's -- where, the stomach says, the food is "better and faster," and the wallet says it would not "have to take a beating." (On cue, a waiter begins pounding on the wallet with a giant pepper shaker.) After a voiceover announces that many meals at Fazoli's can be had for under $5 (including a drink), the diner opts to leave.

The second spot, which began airing this week, depicts a man sitting down to a burger and fries at a fast-food chain. As he opens the packaging, a strong wind sweeps the meal off his table and out the door where it joins other fast-food fare (tacos, fried chicken, milkshakes, etc.). A voiceover again announces that Fazoli's provides more satisfying meals for a competitive price.

"We wanted to create something unique and personalized," Holly Hixson, vice president and management supervisor at the agency, tells Marketing Daily. "Fazoli's is a fun brand with a broad target; we wanted to create something to match that."

The effort builds on an interactive campaign the chain launched in January offering free spaghetti to customers. Through a dedicated microsite, www.freeshapghetti.com, consumers downloaded coupons for a free plate of pasta and could register to win a year's worth of free spaghetti. The free spaghetti program was intended to address consumers' reluctance to eat out, Hixson says.

"It was put together to relieve some of the recession concerns," she says. "Everyone was talking about the recession, but no one was really doing anything about it."