Earned & PaidWendy's
Wendy's spent $28M on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2018, down 31.7% on the year before. That's 1.8% of revenue.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“Our marketing, David, has been -- our calendar, frankly, has been somewhat focused on promotions and collaborations without the continuity of the brand building that goes underneath it and a story that the customers really kind of connect with and resonates with them that, that…”Robert Wright · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“No, I think we all have to be honest about the performance of our marketing efforts are not delivering what we want, but that would not suggest that we would pull back from the marketing spend.”management · 2026 Q2 · transcript
“We have a new media agency coming on board that's going to help us with a more sophisticated audience-based approach that's going to leverage everything we've learned about our customers, which is going to help us be much more effective from a media perspective.”Ken Cook · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“media spend is still going to be down year-over-year in the first half and then significantly improve in the second half”Ken Cook · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“In January, we built on the brand equity of Biggie and launched new Biggie deals as our everyday value architecture.”Adjusted EPS · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“We are redeploying company breakfast advertising spend to investments in field operations that will improve the customer experience across all dayparts and drive efficiency in our restaurants.”Ken Cook · 2024 Q4 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “mbination of trademarks, service marks, copyrights, domain names, trade secrets and similar intellectual property rights to protect our brand and other intellectual property. The success of our business strategy depends, in part, on our continued ability to use our intellectual…” 10-K, Feb 23, 2026
Say vs do
Wendy's's management has talked about its marketing budget, but in ways annual filings can't check: one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix.
What they said
“media spend is still going to be down year-over-year in the first half and then significantly improve in the second half”
Ken Cook on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, Jun 1, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 | $28M | -31.7% | 1.8% |
| FY2017 | $41M | -35.9% | 3.4% |
| FY2016 | $64M | -12.3% | 3.4% |
| FY2014 | $73M | -22.3% | 3.7% |
| FY2013 | $94M | -8.7% | 3.9% |
| FY2012 | $103M | +4.0% | 4.1% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 5 other Restaurants advertisers we track (Starbucks, Chipotle, Yum Brands, Restaurant Brands, Domino's): last year -31.7% (median +19.6%).
In interviews, its leaders made 49 statements about marketing: 2 argued for investing in brand and 0 for cutting.
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Creative campaigns “If you look at the March Madness campaign, it wasn't just a generic promotion, it was built around is it's distinctly Wendy's product in the Frosty and dunking fries in it, also in a culturally relevant moment.” Ken Cook on the earnings call · Jun 1, 2026 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes “Next month, we're partnering with Illumination and Universal Pictures on the upcoming Minions & Monsters movie with a collaboration designed to show up in the everyday moments family share.” Ken Cook on the earnings call · Jun 1, 2026 · source
- Organic social & content “On social media, we expanded our presence in the first quarter with the President of our U.S. business, Pete Suerken, joining the wave of viral hamburger taste tests, as well as our Chief Tasting Officer contest, both generating strong earned media and engagement.” Ken Cook on the earnings call · Jun 1, 2026 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “We will deepen connections with our loyalty members and attract new ones by offering exclusive limited time, unbeatable deals available only through the Wendy's app.” Kirk Tanner on the earnings call · Feb 13, 2025 · source
- Linear TV “The Company has material purchase requirements under a marketing agreement with two national broadcasters and a beverage agreement with a vendor.” 10-Q · Oct 31, 2024 · source
What they see in the market
What its leaders and filings say about the ad market: its own ad business, or the channels advertisers use, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Creative campaigns “And it's also nice to see that DoorDash themselves started to advertise to create -- to increase their own brand awareness and we're really happy that our brand is featuring actually in their advertisement as well.” Gunther Plosch on the earnings call · Feb 21, 2019 · source
In the news
- Wendy’s Made an Emo Album. Blue Bottle Pressed Jazz on Vinyl. This Is Marketing Now inc.com · Sep 29, 2026 · campaign
- E.l.f. jams to second music album under entertainment marketing arm Marketing Dive · Sep 28, 2026 · campaign