• Ad Age, Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:01 PM

After just eight months, Wendy's has dumped its latest ad campaign under pressure from franchisees that have been asking for more product-centric ads for nearly a year. The chain finally responded, losing its "red-wig" ads and moving some creative duties on its $435 million account from Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi to MDC Partners' Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners.

A new product-based campaign from Kirshenbaum will begin airing next week with "It's waaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's" as the tagline. "Through the past year, we've learned more about each agency and ourselves, how to manage two different partners," says Bob Holtcamp of Wendy's. "Kirshenbaum Bond definitely are taking a bigger role in that the idea we presented today was really generated by them."

The scrapped commercials that featured men in red Wendy wigs rolled out during last year's season finale of "American Idol," and while the company said it generated attention, it did nothing to boost sales.

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