Tasty, good advertising
A Q&A about Sonic’s successful “Two Guys” television commercials.
TULSA — Love them or hate them — and there’s plenty of people who fall passionately into both camps — if you’ve watched any television at all in the past decade you’re likely familiar with Sonic Drive-In’s “Two Guys” commercials.
The spots for the Oklahoma City-based fast-food brand feature improv comedians T.J. Jagodowski and Peter Grosz, who since the 2003 premier of the advertisements — with one break — have been offering a funny, familyfriendly take on what we can order at America’s drive-in.
The “Two Guys” campaign was the center of last week’s annual gathering benefiting The Ad Program at the University of Tulsa. The Tulsa World sat down with Lori Abou Habib, vice president of national marketing at Sonic, as well as with Jon Wolanske and Jenna Duboe, creative director and account director at advertising firm Goodby Silverstein & Partners, to talk about the success of the campaign. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Did you guys come up with the idea for “Two Guys” or have you carried on the torch?
Wolanske: We did not come up with the idea. It originated at an agency called Barkley Evergreen & Partners. The genesis of it was really as a competitive campaign, competing against Burger King, other larger QSR (quick-serve restaurant) brands. The whole idea was the two guys would either pull up in their car or go into these other competitor restaurants and try to order as you would at Sonic.
It was a very clever first launch of the Two Guys, and it was a very specific kind of strategic use of them that called upon
their improv skills.
Abou Habib: It’s where the tagline “Sonic’s Got It, Others Don’t” originated from.
Wolanske: And from that launch, once (the Two Guys) developed a fan base, then it became more like brand advertising. The guys were at a Sonic or in their car enjoying Sonic food, just kind of talking about the Sonic experience and kind of playfully teasing one another.
Duboe: We as an agency came in in 2011 — that was when our relationship with Sonic started. In 2011 and 2010 there was a brief hiatus from the Two Guys. Actually a lot of consumers demanded that they come back because they loved the campaign so much. So we did a big relaunch campaign in 2012. The campaign has been pretty different ever since, if you look at the new spots versus the older spots, the production is just very different, the humor is a little bit different. But it’s still two guys in a car joking about the food.
Q: What tweaks did you guys decide to make for Two Guys 2.0?
Wolanske:
I think there’s probably more real-world back story to who they are. Since 2012 we’ve kind of developed their lives a little more as characters. It sounds funny to say that about folks you just know through 30-second spots. The real Pete is married with a son — Pete in Sonic’s world is married with a daughter.
As a campaign keeps going through the years, you kind of want to deepen what they’re able to reference, what they’re able to talk about. T.J.’s mom has been in spots, she’s kind of a recurring character. He talks about his ongoing failure to keep a girlfriend — he’s a terminal bachelor.
Q: It seems like there’s always a really current one on TV. How many do you guys do a year?
Duboe: We do four or five big productions, and each one of those shoots you can shoot up to 12 scripts, which is kind of unheard of. For most other campaigns you might do one in two days. On average it turns into maybe 48 different commercials. Now remember, half of those never see the light of day because we start with two different concepts
and one always wins.
Q: What do you think about the Two Guys connects with consumers so much?
Abou Habib: I think at the very heart of it is humor, and they’re very relatable, and they’re in an everyday situation that people can really picture themselves in. And they’re just two normal guys that have a friendship, and I think that people really identify with that. T.J. is very true to who T.J. is, and Pete is very true to who Pete is.
The other thing I think is that they just completely fit into Sonic’s brand voice, so they’re funny but they’re still wholesome. They never do anything that’s super risque, and it just really fits well with the brand culture of being just a little bit different, a little bit quirky. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Wolanske: There’s a real sense of authenticity about them as people, and I think the spots that are the favorites of mine are the ones where you see them really connecting as friends. I think it’s really clear when they’re having fun with one another that’s genuine, that’s not acting.