How a pop star's lid drove Arby's awareness sky high

With a little help from the My Pillow Guy, Hardee’s was served an ideal opportunity last week for the sort of marketing exposure it could never afford. With a single tweet, the chain snagged one mention after another on some of TV’s most-watched programs.

The experience echoed past instances of restaurant chains turning an off-hand comment or passing event into an opportunity for truly breakthrough marketing. This week’s edition of Restaurant Rewind, a search through restaurant history for insights on what’s happening today, looks at two of those instances.

Restaurant Business Editor At Large and Restaurant Rewind host Peter Romeo zeroes in on one of the most celebrated instances of guerilla marketing, Arby’s play off Pharrell Williams’ performance on the Grammys. And he wraps up with a look at how Wendy’s enjoyed that sort of spotlight during a debate by candidates for the U.S. presidency.