Wingstop, the fast-casual chicken chain with big plans to increase its advertising presence, has initiated an agency review, the company confirmed.

Wingstop operates more than 1,500 U.S. restaurants and another 200 in international markets specializing in wings. Riding 18 consecutive years of same-store sales growth, Wingstop has eyes on becoming a top 10 global restaurant chain, its executives say, seeing the opportunity for 4,000 U.S. locations and 3,000 international units.

Wingstop’s agency of record is Leo Burnett Chicago, which has held the account since late 2018. It has been invited to defend the account, a source said. A Wingstop spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the reason for the review. The search is being handled by Joanne Davis Consulting, which declined comment. Leo Burnett could not be immediately reached for comment.

Wingstop's same-store sales increased by 6.9% in its most recently reported third quarter behind falling chicken wing prices, a new delivery deal with Uber Eats and a wildly successful launch of a chicken sandwich in 12 varieties based on the flavor offerings of its wings.

“We anticipated that our chicken sandwich strategy would bring new guests into the brand and capture additional occasions, but we did not expect to see the incredible demand that we saw in our initial launch,” Michael Skipworth, Wingstop’s president and CEO, said during a conference call in late October, according to a Sentieo transcript. “Our initial launch sold out of four weeks of supply in six days demonstrating the long-term opportunity we believe we have with chicken sandwich.”

The chicken sandwich was reintroduced in October without advertising and quickly accounted for 8% of total sales, Skipworth said.

Increasing ad spend

Advertising has played a crucial role in the brand’s success, with franchisees agreeing earlier this year to convert local advertising funds to the company’s national account, allowing the chain to spend 5% of its sales on advertising, or a 35% year-over-year increase in the second half of the year, executives said. That’s important as Wingstop looks to narrow an awareness gap versus peers, Skipworth said.

Andrew Charles, an analyst for Cowen & Co., forecast Wingstop’s ad budget would grow by 15% per year from 2023 to 2026. In a note to clients, he stated: “While management believes TV advertising is the most efficient marketing outlet, with room to grow as the brand is not on air 52 weeks per year like national quick service peers, non-traditional outlets such as streaming and social media seem more intriguing and [offer] higher ROI. We also expect Wingstop to market more on third-party delivery platforms to cater to hungry diners in a timely fashion.”

Leo Burnett’s work for Wingstop’s “Thighstop” campaign was awarded the Grand Prix for Creative Commerce at Cannes Lions this year. The campaign responded to a national chicken wing shortage in the U.S. with a fun and engaging virtual rebrand. In September, the creators of the “Thighstop” campaign, Matt McNulty and Ben Pfutzenreuter, departed Leo Burnett for OKRP, where they are working on Burger King’s rebrand.