A bottle of wine is a mainstay of Valentine’s Day celebrations—greasy cheeseburgers and spicy chicken nuggets, less so. But this Valentine’s Day, Wendy’s and winery Josh Cellars are entering into an unconventional romance and documenting their love story both on social media and in a melodramatic Wattpad story. 

Wendy’s initiated the courtship on Monday with a rhyming love poem on X, formerly Twitter, writing to Josh Cellars: “burgers are fun / red wine is posh / wanna pair up? / [nevermind] blame it on the Josh.” The final line of the poem ties back to the slew of “Josh wine” memes that swept across X last month, which wove the wine brand’s name into everything from song lyrics to internet slang.

Josh Cellars responded an hour later with its own romantic verse, writing: “happy vday @wendys / kisses & hugs / i’d love nothing more / than to be your spicy nug.” The brand spent much of Tuesday fretting on both X and Instagram about its upcoming Valentine’s Day date with Wendy’s. In an Instagram Reel captioned, “when Wendy’s asks you to be their valentine,” a bottle of Josh Cellars’s red wine struggles to put on a bow tie while nervously preparing for the date. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Josh Cellars Wine (@joshcellars)

Tombras, which works with Josh Cellars, collaborated with Wendy’s agency VML on the campaign. “After sliding into each other’s DMs, we coordinated some interactions leading up to/on Valentines Day,” Morgan Crego McLees, creative director at Tombras, told Ad Age.

“We are flattered to be Wendy’s (aka the Queen’s) Valentine this year!” said Dan Kleinman, Josh Cellars chief brand officer. “We love the idea of partnering with a brand that has such a strong social voice and personality, allowing us to join in on the cultural conversation in a lighthearted, fun way. We hope this brings both of our loyal brand fans, as well as new followers, a bit of a smile during the season of love.”

Wendy’s and Josh Cellars aren’t the first two brands to hard launch their relationship on social media. Just a few months ago, Slim Jim and Cinnabon held a wedding ceremony on X after months of back-and-forth flirting on the platform. But Wendy’s and Josh Cellars also extended their relationship beyond social media feeds to a romantic short story on Wattpad, offering their respective social media followers a deeper look at the two brands’ budding romance. 

Critics are calling “Wendy and Josh Are Just Friends,” “Like Normal People, but much shorter and more burgers.” Grab a Baconator, pour a glass of @joshcellars, and cozy up with our Valentine’s Day read: https://t.co/UPHQnPnp7k

— Wendy’s (@Wendys) February 13, 2024

The story, titled “Wendy and Josh Are Just Friends,” follows the titular characters’ journey from high school best friends in denial about their romantic feelings for one another to their post-college love confession, leaning into the “friends-to-lovers” trope popular on BookTok.

Though the two main characters share the brand’s respective names, they aren’t personifications of them, as both Wendy’s and Josh Cellars still exist in the short story. In fact, the love story ends with Josh standing on Wendy’s doorstep in the pouring rain, clutching a rose in one hand and two Baconators in the other. 

“If you liked ‘Normal People’ but thought it was too long, this is the perfect Valentine's read for you,” the story’s Wattpad description reads, referencing a Sally Rooney novel with a similar friends-to-lovers romance.