Ep 55: Dwayne Chambers is the Chief Marketing Officer for Checkers and Rally’s Drive-In
“Every moment is a brand moment. Good or bad, you're making a statement one way or the other in everything that you do.” These are the words of today’s guest, Dwayne Chambers, who is currently the Chief Marketing Officer of Checkers and Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants, while also running his own consultancy, Brand Moments. Over the years, he has held leadership positions with some amazing brands, including PF Chang’s, Krispy Kreme, Fuddruckers, Noodles & Company, Red Robin, and Sonic Drive-In. Dwayne believes strongly in the power of capturing moments and, today, he joins us to explain how he does this through his role at Checkers and Rally’s. Tuning in, you’ll hear how the company differentiates itself in the highly competitive burgers and fries category, how they were perfectly positioned to handle the pandemic as a drive-thru establishment, and how they have adapted throughout this time in terms of both marketing and other forms of innovation. Dwayne also provides some insight into what it has been like to build and manage a fully remote team. To find out about Checkers and Rally’s innovative AI drive-thru technology, the amazing benefits Dwayne has derived from remote working, and why he believes modern marketing is really about consumer moments, as well as so much more, make sure to tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
A fun fact about Dwayne Chambers and his first two unusual clients.
The Checkers and Rally's story and the company’s footprint.
How Checkers and Rally's differentiates itself in the competitive burgers and fries category.
Hear how they were well positioned as a drive-thru establishment to handle the pandemic.
Why they focused on serving the community instead of marketing when the pandemic hit.
Insight into some of the innovations they are undertaking with their drive-thrus.
Where AI drive-thru technology is expected to take the company and its efficiency.
Insight into Brand Moments and Dwayne’s marketing philosophy of capturing moments.
How Checkers and Rally's try to make themselves visible to people unfamiliar with the brand.
How convenience has eroded brand affinity and how they present the brand in light of this.
Other brands that Dwayne has worked for and how his career has progressed to this point.
What we can learn from how Krispy Kreme came back from the edge of bankruptcy.
What challenges Dwayne faced when he started his role at Checkers and Rally’s.
Insight into the remote nature of Dwayne’s team and how this affects mentoring and growth.
Some of the other people Dwayne would like to see interviewed on this show.
Tweetables:
“It started with the realization that every moment is a brand moment. Good or bad, you're making a statement one way or the other in everything that you do.” — Dwayne Chambers [0:21:58]
“Finding what that core purpose is, going after it as far and fast as you can, and being about something specifically rather than generically trying to be about everything—that was a tremendous amount of the success in the comeback of Krispy Kreme.” — Dwayne Chambers [0:35:26]
“I could be stuck in an office and hire the people that are close because they're available and would live in my town, or I could hire amazing people. That's really what I've seen.” — Dwayne Chambers [0:41:32]