Let’s hit the sports bar with Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings drops a brand refresh with the launch of Let’s Go Sports Bar, the first work since the brand named Anomaly as its creative agency of record in May.

Let’s Go Sports Bar is a celebration of what Buffalo Wild Wings knows and does best, wings, beer, and sports. It stars a real-life (computer-generated) Buffalo named Hank, who just so happens to be a buffalo with wild wings. Voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Beck Bennett and brought to life by Untold Studios, Hank houses plates of wings without judgment, loves new sauces, and riles people up. Every game. Hank is that really amusing and interesting guy at the bar you can’t help but love, the one with endless stories to share. In short, he’s the brand’s ultimate embodiment number-one fan.

A 30-second spot, sits at the centre of the campaign. It portrays Hank in a parking lot as he sighs and says: “Sometimes, all you need to change your life is a sign. A sign that says, ‘Hank, this is the place you’ve been looking for. Sometimes, that sign is…an actual sign that’s mounted to a building.’” Hank proudly states that he doesn’t just love Buffalo Wild Wings because he is a buffalo with wings; how offensive and reductive. He loves BWW because they took beer and made it into a place, then gave that place sports, chicken wings, and the best people. What’s not to love?

"Like any comedy job, it’s all about casting. So, when Hank walked into the audition with his wild wings and, you know, being a talking Buffalo, we knew we found our guy. And he knew he found a steady paycheck,” said Josh Fell, Chief Creative Officer at Anomaly LA. "Also we got to use the word “reductionist” in a spot, a first in the history of advertising. A claim I’m too lazy to verify but will go to my grave believing."

“This campaign is about finding the voice of Buffalo Wild Wings as a way of defining what the brand is all about and the role it plays in our guests’ lives,” said Tristan Meline, Chief Marketing Officer at Buffalo Wild Wings. “Turns out the voice we found is a literal winged buffalo named Hank, which is essentially our logo come to life and only something B-Dubs could do. We’re excited about this new creative and the next chapter of the brand partnering with Anomaly LA.”