--- title: "QSR Ad of the Month: Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger Makes the Perfect Reintroduction" url: https://burnaze.com/article/9cf3a52f-66c1-4136-b300-73bde1623d06 source: "QSR Magazine" original_url: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/qsr-ad-of-the-month-wendys-pretzel-bacon-pub-cheeseburger-makes-the-perfect-reintroduction/ author: "Danny Klein" category: "Burger" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Burger" published: 2026-09-08T10:55:45.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:19:09.493Z image: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/wendyspubburger.jpg --- # QSR Ad of the Month: Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger Makes the Perfect Reintroduction **TL;DR:** Wendy's new 15-second ad for the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger effectively drives brand emotion and promotes the product, achieving a top-quartile Star Rating and an Exceptional Spike Rating. The ad's success can be attributed to its balance of branding, information, and entertainment, making it a perfect reintroduction for the limited-edition menu item. *By Danny Klein, originally published in QSR Magazine on 2026-09-08. [Read the original](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/qsr-ad-of-the-month-wendys-pretzel-bacon-pub-cheeseburger-makes-the-perfect-reintroduction/).* ## Story Promotions around specific products are a feature of many categories, but they tend to be especially pronounced in QSR marketing. Shouting out a limited or secret menu item is a specific job with multiple overlapping goals. You need the ad to put across the basic information that the product is out there. You need to tie it into your wider brand so people know where to get it and you need to do it in an entertaining, attention-grabbing way so the news doesn’t get lost in the media flow. This month we’re looking at how Wendy’s does all these things in just 15 seconds in their new ad for their Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger. With short-form (30 seconds or less) accounting for about 50 percent of all TV media, it’s amazing that Wendy’s could achieve this in just 15 seconds, as we’ve found that emotion needs time with the sweet spot being 20—40 seconds. System1’s Test Your Ad database shows longer ads tend to create more emotion because emotion builds over time. The burger is a relatively recent innovation, on menus from 2020 to 2022 and becoming a firm fan favorite. Earlier this year Wendy’s ran a “Bring It Back” bracket, where the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger romped home in a fan vote. Customer demand for the burger is out there. The ad puts the vital information upfront, naming and showing the product immediately and tying it to the Wendy’s brand with clear, prominent branding. Within two seconds, 77 percent of viewers know this is a Wendy’s ad according to System1’s Fast Fluency score. Rather than taking time away from the creative, this early brand recognition helps Wendy’s get more value from everything that follows. The ad calls the burger a “fan favorite”, introducing an element of social proof into the message, while showing a customer taking a bite reinforces its delicious (and crunchy) appeal. Because viewers already know who’s speaking, the entertainment works harder for the brand, ensuring the positive feelings generated by the ad are more likely to be attributed back to Wendy’s. With these basics established, the ad can get on with entertaining us. As he bites down, the customer is transported into a real pub, a fitting setting for this beer-sauce-enhanced burger (“It’s like a pub in a bun” says the voiceover). A pair of rough diamond customers banter with the surprised diner before the pub erupts into a cheery singalong. “Pub kinda included” the narrator ends. The ad is giving us information but also a laugh, a surprise, and more cues about the product and how we’re meant to feel about it. That’s a lot more packed into 15 seconds than most menu item promotion ads manage, and it pays off in the test results. The ad gets a top-quartile Star Rating for the QSR category of 4.2-Stars, meaning it has strong potential for brand growth given the right investment. It’s also well-branded with Fluency (brand recognition) above the category norm. Those are always strong qualities for an ad to possess and show how making the ad funny and entertaining has helped make it more memorable and effective. But for a limited-edition menu item promotion, Star Rating and Fluency are important but not the most vital metric. That honor goes to the Spike Rating, which predicts an ad’s potential to drive short-term sales boosts. With the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger being back for a limited run, it’s important to get it off to a strong sales start and let it fulfill its purpose of getting customers into Wendy’s this fall. Does this ad fulfill its mission? It does. The Spike Rating lands in the Exceptional bracket, in the top 17 percent of all QSR ads. This sector, like all food-based categories, tends to be strong for Spike Ratings—images of tasty food are good at generating intense, short-term responses! So, to outperform the norm this strongly is a real achievement. And the secret is getting that balance between branding, information, and entertainment right. For the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger, it’s a perfect reintroduction. ***Vanessa Chin** is the SVP of Marketing at System1, The Creative Effectiveness Platform that predicts and improves the commercial impact of ads and ideas. Vanessa leads US marketing efforts to enhance visibility and expand business opportunities. Previously, she was Marketing Director at ALDI, supporting its transformation into the fastest-growing US grocery chain. Vanessa has also worked at Leo Burnett, MARC USA, and BBDO, with expertise in advertising, brand development, and global marketing operations.* ## Entities - QSR (sector) - QSR Magazine (publication) - brand growth (topic) - Wendy's (company) - qsr marketing (topic) - Danny Klein (person) - limited edition products (topic) - menu item promotion (topic) - System1 (company) - Vanessa Chin (person) - advertising effectiveness (topic) --- Originally reported by Danny Klein, QSR Magazine (https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/qsr-ad-of-the-month-wendys-pretzel-bacon-pub-cheeseburger-makes-the-perfect-reintroduction/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/9cf3a52f-66c1-4136-b300-73bde1623d06).