Case Study: Friendly’s achieves traffic growth and millennial appeal with Quad’s brand refresh

Increasing Traffic with a Refreshed Brand

Friendly’s, the longtime American restaurant known for its handmade ice cream, faced more than two decades of declining foot traffic as younger consumers stopped seeing value in the brand. To reposition the chain for millennials, Friendly’s leadership brought in Quad’s brand experts and creative team to diagnose the decline and recommend a modern brand refresh.

Quad audited Friendly’s data and refocused the brand on its core strengths—ice cream and value—by modernizing store design, putting dessert first, introducing a $1.99 ice cream cone and a “Fiver” meal deal, and creating brand guidelines and a go-to-market creative strategy with true multichannel integration. The Quad-led program increased traffic for the first time in over twenty years and attracted new millennial customers, delivering measurable uplift across channels.

Friendly’s

Randy Davis

Former CMO