NSAC 2019: Wienerschnitzel

Solving the stigma around hot dogs for the nation's leading franchise

The National Student Advertising Competition is an annual competition where national brands pose challenges to universities across the country.

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The 2018-2019 challenge was to alter public perception of hot dogs. As the "Team Captain" and Account Manager for ASU's second year of competing, I led a team of 30 students in designing and analyzing primary research and developing a strategy. Stigma against hot dogs stems from them being plain or made from the "gross" parts of meat, which Wienerschnitzel contradicts with their manufacturing process and unique flavor offerings. If only we could get customers to try them.

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So we made it a challenge. What's holding you back? There are a lot of things we're scared to try before finding that we were missing out all along, like Wienerschnitzel dogs.

We also found that hot dogs suffered from only existing in certain times and places, like a summer barbecue, a baseball game or on the streets of New York. Our tactic of franchising hot dog carts and not just restaurants, and then taking these carts on a national tour, was a Judge's Award recipient.

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