Job to be done
ASK Italian briefed Wild Card to deliver a campaign that appealed to its target audience of female Gen Z and young Millennials. The campaign needed to drive mid-week restaurant visits across their 66 locations through an an exciting, multi-channel approach that clearly communicated why ASK Italian was the perfect place to enjoy great food with friends.
Strategic approach
The strategy was to create an ownable moment that positioned ASK Italian centrally to social connections for young adults. ASK restaurants were framed as the perfect place to find and nurture friendships, addressing relatable topics that resonated with the target audience. This approach aligned perfectly with ASK’s broader brand positioning around connecting communities and creating meaningful experiences.
Campaign creative
The strategy came to life through our conception of the “Feeding Friendships” platform, which introduced ‘Friendsday Wednesday‘ — a dedicated day for nurturing friendships, complete with FREE Dough Bites starters to encourage sharing. We executed fresh research showing that Gen Z and young millennials are hugely affected by adult loneliness, creating a newsworthy narrative about young people’s desire for real-life connections that was distributed to national press to amplify the launch.
We partnered with LuxeGen to further enhance visibility among young audiences, hosting a launch event that created social buzz for the initiative. Influencers with aligned audiences were engaged to spread further awareness, supported by paid advertising across TikTok and Meta to increase reach. Our partnership with Lonely Girls Club created real-world opportunities for young adults to use ASK Italian as the perfect place to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.
Results
The campaign reached 69 million people across all channels, with strong engagement from influencers, paid social (2.82% CTR), and owned media (4.38% engagement rate).
Press coverage appeared in key national titles, reaching 66.1 million.
One in ten Wednesday customers proactively engaged with the promotion, with peak redemption hitting 400 covers in a single day.