Zaxbys’ CMO on the chain’s new ‘Sauce Boss’ campaign with Omar Epps

Chicken chain Zaxbys is looking to make the brand more memorable and tap into consumers’ love of sauces with new ads starring actor Omar Epps as The Sauce Boss, its first recurring character. The “Who’s Got the Sauce?” campaign from Goodby Silverstein & Partners includes an ad showing Epps in a booth at Zaxbys explaining that there are people who “got the sauce, and those that need help finding it.” In another spot, he points out that another patron, Theo (played by Chad Jamian), airballed the game-winning shot, but he’s dunking at Zaxbys. “We are about the sauces, and Goodby brought this idea to us of giving consumers sauce in their everyday lives, and that paired well with a character,” said Patrick Schwing, Zaxbys’ chief marketing and strategy officer. “We looked at a number of people and Omar kept coming up. He has the style and swagger, he’s kind of holding court in the restaurant. You get that familiarity, you know him from somewhere, and he was into filling out the character.” The ads will run on TV, online video, social and digital media. Zaxbys teased Epps’ appearance on social media earlier this week. The new work comes as Zaxbys is looking to build a more “enduring and flexible” marketing strategy, Schwing said. “We think this does a nice job over time of having guests associate the Sauce Boss with our business,” he said. “The starting point was our literal sauces, but now this is more holistic and allows the ‘boss’ part to extend to the consumer as the colloquial term for charisma. The Sauce Boss is a natural extension into other PR activations and social media.” The new creative strategy has been a few years in the making. In 2022, former El Pollo Loco CEO Bernard Acoca became Zaxbys’ CEO and Schwing joined after serving as CMO at Arby’s, kicking off a review of the brand’s marketing strategy. “We were observing that it was a crowded chicken category and that what we had done in prior ads was more episodic, focused on LTOs,” Schwing said, referring to limited-time offers. “We felt we needed an overarching campaign to be more memorable and craveable.” As part of the new campaign, Zaxbys will have a limited-time Sauce Boss Box—four chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast, cheddar bites, two chocolate chip cookies and a small drink with the choice of three sauces for $13.99. Rewards members can also try all 12 sauces for free for one week starting April 28. Zaxbys is not the only chicken chain focusing on sauces. For March Madness, KFC rolled out a Dunk It Bucket—a lid for its bucket that holds three sauces. Zaxbys ranked 39th in Technomic’s 2024 restaurant rankings, which are based on system-wide domestic sales from the previous year. Zaxbys’ 2023 U.S. systemwide sales totaled nearly $2.5 billion. For comparison, Chick-fil-A’s 2023 sales totaled $21.6 billion and Raising Cane’s were $3.7 billion. Ad Age recently spoke with Schwing about Zaxbys’ expansion plans, the Mr. Beast meal it marketed last year, and trends he is seeing in the food category. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. How is Zaxbys standing out in a crowded chicken category? Everyone looks at the same data that shows sauce is a way to innovate and younger guests are looking for those flavor profiles. We have a great chicken finger, and that becomes a canvas for consumers to express themselves. Sauces are a low-risk way to experience something new. There is also something on our menu for everyone, with our salads and milkshakes. What is your current marketing mix? Like all brands, it’s about balance. We are playing across a broad spectrum. We don’t truly buy national TV ads, what used to be called “sight, sounds and motion,” but we can do that in other ways because there are certain mediums where you might not have audio or just have the video but no sound, or just a still image. We have shifted more to digital and are finding a lot of success there. We think what has been missing was the right campaign ideas, until now, and now we have a story to tell. You’ll see the Sauce Boss on social and audio. The chain just opened a location in Las Vegas. Why are you expanding out West? Our research has shown that we have an appealing proposition that works across states and we aspire to be a more coast-to-coast brand. But we have to be thoughtful in how we expand, and that comes down to finding amazing operators because the experience is only as good as them. Last year, Zaxbys partnered with Mr. Beast for a meal that featured his Feastables chocolate bar. How did that perform? It was a fun execution and I think it made a lot of sense for the brand in terms of symmetry. It was one of our most successful LTOs ever, I can tell you that. I think it was a mini step towards this campaign in terms of generating brand buzz. It ran its course and we are happy with the outcome and will continue to pursue other Mr. Beast-like ideas. And I think “Whose Got the Sauce” has a lot of potential in terms of identifying new creative partners. What trends are you watching? Trend No. 1 is how people consume food. For our business, I go back to that “the guest is the boss” mindset so we listen carefully and try to be on the forefront of what people want, like tacos and shrimp. Another is the media landscape, which has always been dynamic, but I think that it’s been four or five years of acceleration of certain channels and you want to be at the forefront of new media ideas, but not invest in them wholesale. I think the third is what AI is going to mean for us. AI is not a replacement for good creative and partners like Goodby Silverstein & Partners. The question is more how AI automation might help us on things like emails, loyalty, and versioning or getting rid of mundane tasks so we can focus on ideas and food innovations. What is your Zaxbys order? I am chicken fingers and sauce all the way and we are currently doing a birthday cake milkshake. I like our Zax sauces and the Buffalo Garlic Blaze. If I want to mix it up, I go with our Asian Zensation salad.

Zaxbys’ CMO on the chain’s new ‘Sauce Boss’ campaign with Omar Epps

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