Wawa — Alex McKinley

We confronted pacific perceptions of gas station food.

Background: Wawa is an East Coast convenience store and gas station chain known for its fresh, made-to-order food, coffee, and loyal customer base.
The Ask:Find a brand that can solve a problem specific to California.
Insight:
Californians become inconsolable at the thought of gas station food.Strategy:
Prove to Californians that Wawa is the exception worth experiencing.

Mapping Things Out:
Researched California to understand unique culture, lifestyle, and challenges.
Social listening to determine if there are any gaps in dining options for Californians.
Surveyed consumers in Wawa markets to gauge sentiment on Wawa.
Interviewed Californians to understand perceptions of gas station food.

Our Road Trip:

In analyzing Californian’s lifestyle and current food options we identified an opportunity for a brand like Wawa to show up for health-minded, on-the-go Californians.

Things shifted when we shared this with someone from California. She told us how a quick stop at Wawa led to her mom calling in a panic, assuming something must be wrong if her daughter was eating from a gas station.

While we’d identified the market gap Wawa could fill, we hadn’t considered the emotional barriers Californians would have toward a brand like Wawa. This realization led us to our strategy.

Wawa is the exception worth experiencing.

In our creative brainstorm, when we thought of California, we thought wannabe actors, vegans, plastic surgery, and more. We thought LA stereotypes.

It hit us: just as Californians face stereotypes, so does gas station food. For Wawa to succeed out west, we had to challenge both, proving Wawa defies expectations just like California does.

If we’re heading to Hollywood, it only makes sense to create some entertainment. And to tackle stereotypes, we’ll turn to one of Hollywood’s most notorious sources: soap operas.

Introducing You Don’t Know Wawa. Watch the case study or keep scrolling to be able to say you know Wawa.

Big drama on a little screen.

Hoagies of Our Lives. Families tested. Truths confronted. Nobody will be the same.
This over-the-top soap follows a stereotypical Californian family shaken when their daughter returns from her East Coast college with a shocking new habit, eating at Wawa.

Played on gas pump screens, HOOL grabs attention and challenges Californians' assumptions about gas station food, nudging them to head inside and see for themselves.

A new menu, just for you, California.

You’ve seen the drama, now taste the experience. Once customers stepped inside, we followed up the soap with a new Cali Menu, crafted to match every classic Californian stereotype.

Every order proves two things wrong at once: Californians are more than their stereotypes—and so is Wawa.

And since Californians spend so much time in traffic...

In our research, we learned that Californians have commutes over 4x the national average in their biggest cities.
We found digital billboards along famously congested highways in Los Angeles, allowing Angelenos to take a long look at our playful take on California stereotypes.

Team: Max King (ST), Elio Conroy (AD), Mia Kasper (AD), Claire Casalaspi (CW)

Want to know Wawa even better?
Let’s talk.

CONTACT