A&W Restaurants is giving its 100-year-old customers free root-beer floats for life

America’s oldest franchised restaurant, A&W Restaurants, is celebrating being a centenarian by rewarding other centenarians for lasting 100 years or more. The brand’s latest campaign with creative agency Cornett rings in its 105th birthday with free root beers for all centenarians—for life. The campaign comes as there are currently only about 108,000 people over 100 in the U.S. “These are people who have been with A&W since the beginning,” said Liz Bazner, VP of marketing and innovation for A&W Restaurants. “We wouldn't have survived the last century without them, so we wanted to show our immense appreciation with something special just for them.” To spread the word about the permanent promotion, A&W tapped two actual centenarians, both of whom are World War II veterans: 104-year-old Hazel Calloway and 100-year-old Glendell Bennett. The pair are featured in TikTok and Reel videos in which they use Gen Z and millennial lingo while showing off how much fun the “Greatest Generation,” or those born between 1900 and 1925, can have. Famed 95-year-old “granfluencer” Helen van Winkle (@baddiewinkle), who has millions of social media followers, is also A&W’s spokesperson for the permanent promotion. She teased her involvement in the campaign on Instagram just weeks for before her 96th birthday, marking her first post in 21 weeks. In another TikTok video she teases that when she “grows up,” she too will be able to enjoy free floats herself. The campaign brings a little joy to an often-forgotten demographic with the prospect of a free product for life despite the lifetime of years behind them. See more images and B-roll below: Popular Creativity stories from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

A&W Restaurants is giving its 100-year-old customers free root-beer floats for life

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