Case Study A&W Rebrand
A Canadian fast-food icon uses the past to build for the future.
A&W virtually invented the hamburger in Canada, with its chain of highly successful drive-in restaurants. They remained the undisputed leader across the country until the arrival of McDonald’s in the ’70s. The decline of drive-in culture left the company reduced to a handful of locations, mostly in mall food courts. In 1999, A&W decided to completely revamp its brand to reconnect with its original drive-in audience— Canada’s baby boomers. The original Burger Family product line was reintroduced, along with Chubby Chicken and Root Beer Floats.
Every point of customer contact was touched— from tray liners, to washroom signs, to a long-running TV campaign. Over the next 10 years, A&W became one of Canada’s biggest turn-around stories— with unprecedented sales growth and one of the best-loved television campaigns on TV today.
