For the first time in seven years, Harvey’s is adding another hamburger to its menu – and introducing it at a low price in an attempt to lure hungry carnivores away from competing chains.
‘The taste will convert buyers,’ says Dan Lepidas, vice-president of Harvey’s, which is controlled by Cara Operations in Toronto.
The Ultra Burger is the first new hamburger the fast-food restaurant chain has introduced since its Super Burger seven years ago.
The Super was dropped from the menu about a month ago to make room for the Ultra but that’s where the similarities end.
The chain found that women and children were not interested in the Super, which weighed in at 1/3 lb, says Lepidas. The Ultra weighs 4 oz., which is just a bit more than Harvey’s regular burger.
‘This burger is a category killer,’ says Lepidas, adding that Michael Bonacini of Toronto’s upscale Canoe restaurant helped develop the new product, which is described as thicker than a regular burger with a ‘steak-like’ bite.
Tagged ‘The hamburger with exquisite taste,’ the Ultra is being touted as a burger prepared in a home-barbecue style.
Toronto’s Ambrose Carr Linton Carroll, re-hired by Cara last year after a four-year hiatus, developed three 30-sec. spots for the burger, while J.P. Martel in Montreal, with which aclc has a strategic alliance for French creative, created the three French spots for Quebec.
The English spots, to air Sept. 16, have a tongue-in-cheek approach to the question ‘What makes good taste?’
Asked whether the Ultra is an ‘adult’ burger, like McDonald’s Arch Deluxe, Lepidas says that Harvey’s has always targeted the adult market with its ‘mass specialization’ approach – where every burger is topped according to one’s tastes. The Ultra simply presents the consumer with another taste choice.
The spots also promote the fact that the Ultra has a low introductory price of $1.88. The regular hamburger sells for $2.59 – the same price the Ultra will sell for after the promotion, says Lepidas.
In support of the television buy, there will be billboards of three different designs across the country, says Lepidas, along with mail drops and bus shelters. Media planning is by Harrison Young Pesonen & Newell of Toronto.
There will also be strong in-store support. The Ultra campaign will last six weeks, compared to the 3-4 week average of a regular Harvey’s campaign, says Lepidas, adding that he expects the advertising to speak to both the lapsed Harvey’s customer and to people who have never been to the chain.
Hand-in-hand with the introduction of the new burger is a new brand positioning that Lepidas says builds on the brand’s heritage. From the roots of the well-known ‘Harvey’s makes your hamburger a beautiful thing’ comes the new version: ‘Everyone’s an original.’
Harvey’s was ripe for a change, considering the announcement by parent Cara that the chain will be expanding over the next few years.
Lepidas says the chain’s locations are not as convenient as those of other fast food restaurants and the expansion is an attempt to remedy that.
Since April of this year, Cara has opened 20 Harvey’s restaurants and the company predicts it will double that by the end of the year. There are 303 Harvey’s restaurants operating across the country.
The company has also added restaurants to several Home Depots, as well as to Petro-Canada’s first SuperStop in Scarborough, Ont., hinting it will add more restaurants as Petro-Can opens additional retail outlets.
