Arby's ups the ante with free tattoosArby's ups the ante with free tattoos

Arby’s has been engaged in a fair amount of ad hijinks lately. But the quick-service chain’s marketing chief says a common thread weaves through the churlish new spokesman, the Twitter images and the tattoo artist who will be inking fans this weekend.

Earlier this month the Atlanta-based chain launched a series of commercials featuring a Head of Sandwiches, played by H. Jon Benjamin, best known as the voice of Sterling Archer, the narcissistic womanizer in the cable network FXX animated sitcom “Archer.”

In the ads, the fictitious sandwich chief roams his test kitchen expressing disdain for people who don’t understand that Arby’s has 17 sandwiches besides the iconic roast beef, and he also blames the chain’s giant hat-shaped sign that promotes the classic sandwich.

He then expands on the chain’s current marketing tagline, “We have the meats,” by adding “for sandwiches.”

Arby’s also launched a sandwich hotline — 1-833-44-ARBYS — with a relatively elaborate directory tree in which the Head of Sandwiches recommends menu items based on the occasion: sliders to sneak into movies, the Reuben if you’re celebrating your wedding anniversary, the Buttermilk Chicken Cordon Bleu if it’s payday (because it sounds fancy), the Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon sandwich on honey wheat bread following a cardio workout (“It’s almost like you can taste the health,”) and so on.

Meanwhile, the chain’s Twitter feed has been posting portraits made of sandwich ingredients.

Lucky tweeters asking @arbys to #MakeMySandwich got thoughtful likenesses made with bread, meat, cheese and other fixin’s.

The pepperoni used to make the red hair of Wendy’s icon was so fetching that, as Thrillist observed, it got the burger chain’s notoriously obstreperous Twitter feed to say something nice.

It should be noted that Wendy’s and Arby’s are former sister chains: Wendy’s sold then-troubled Arby’s to Roark Capital Group in 2011, completing its divestiture just last month.

Next, Arby’s announced that it had teamed up with tattoo artist Miguel “Uzi“ Montgomery, who will be giving free Arby’s-themed tattoos to fans who show up at Port City Tattoo in Long Beach, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 22, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“A love of sandwich takes on many forms,” Arby’s says on its Sandwiches for Life microsite promoting the event. “Only one of them involves a panther with a Loaded Italian [sandwich] in its mouth being permanently inked onto your body.”

“The team at Arby’s knew of ‘Uzi’ for his classic, flash-art tattoo designs, and we knew he’d do these Arby’s sandwich-themed tattoos justice,” Arby’s chief marketing officer Jim Taylor said in an email. “Once we got into the project, we just really clicked. His work is amazing, and like us, he likes to have fun, so our partnership has been seamless from the start.”

He said all of these activities have to do with promoting Arby’s as a multifaceted sandwich chain.

“At the core of the Head of Sandwiches campaign, beginning with the evolved ad creative and reinforced with the sandwich portraits and tattoo activation, is a single message: Arby’s is an amazing sandwich shop with quality meats at the center.”

There might be future shenanigans in the works. Although Taylor said he had “nothing specific to share just yet,” he did refer obliquely to the previous launch of venison and elk sandwiches during hunting season.

“Hunting season is just around the corner, which we’ve had some fun with in the past,” he said.

Arby’s has more than 3,400 units in the United States and abroad.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]

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