Great PR: Wendy’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend

The first Father’s Day Frosty Weekend was in 2007, and its success determined Wendy’s to continue this program every year. More than $4.5 million has been raised since the inception of the program, all for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA), which cares for more than 150,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. The foundation was created by Wendy’s founder himself, Dave Thomas, who was an adopted child.

In 2009 alone, Father’s Day Frosty Weekend raised $1.8 million. This year, during Father’s Day Weekend, June 19 – 20, Wendy’s will donate 50 cents for every Frosty sold, to the above named association. The campaign’s PR is managed by PR Agency Ketchum.

There are other ways you can get involved and raise money for the DFTA this Father’s Day Weekend: including purchasing an in-store Frosty pin-up for $1.

Wendy’s also launched the Treat it Forward online campaign, in which specific social interactions between June 7 and June 20 on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Frostycard.com will result in additional 50 cent donations, up to a total of $50,000, to the DTFA. Here’s what you can do:

• send a free custom eCard from Frostycard.com
• tweet from the Treat it Forward application found on www.facebook.com/frosty (Treat it Fwd tab), or uses the hashtag: #TreatItFwd.
• give a Virtual Frosty as a gift on Facebook, or tell your friends about Father’s Day Frosty Weekend through the Facebook application found on www.facebook.com/frosty (Treat it Fwd tab).
• checks-in to a Wendy’s on Foursquare during Father’s Day Weekend (June 19 – 20).

The money raised online in the weeks leading up to Father’s Day weekend and in-store during the holiday weekend will support DTFA’s program Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK).

“Since 2005, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids has grown from seven to 121 adoption recruiters, and from seven states to all 50, the District of Columbia and Canada,” says Rita Soronen, executive director of the DTFA, “and the program has helped more than 4,000 children be matched with or adopted by their forever families. With continued expansion, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids will be able to meet its goal of helping 8,000 – 10,000 children.”