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Panera to Spend Millions on Upgrades; Why the World’s Most-Watched YouTube Video Doesn’t Pay Like It Should; Secret Sauce Stays a Secret
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Good morning. Today, Panera sets off on a multimillion-dollar turnaround strategy; I offer some possible schadenfreude for parents who suffered too many rounds of a highly repetitive earworm; and a safe at an undisclosed location contains the key to the success of America’s hottest chicken chain.
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Panera helped pioneer the fast-casual restaurant model but has stumbled during the past decade. Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
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Panera Bread is overhauling its menu, operations and decor as part of an effort to reverse years of stagnant sales growth, Heather Haddon reports.
The changes include a return to romaine lettuce in many salads after Panera last year swapped lower-cost iceberg into some of its mixes. “No one likes iceberg,” said Paul Carbone, CEO at Panera Brands, parent company to Panera Bread, Einstein Bros. Brands and Caribou Coffee.
The chain plans to boost staffing to give more customers the option of ordering from a person versus digital kiosks, Carbone said. Panera and its franchisees aim to renovate older cafes to help bring more customers into stores, where about one-quarter of orders currently are consumed.
Carbone said he wants to resume adding new locations, including smaller cafes that are easier to run. Panera has started to run new ads spotlighting its upgrades, including some starring former “Gilmore Girls” actors.
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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4 Models to Spark Innovation
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To drive innovation, companies are developing centers of excellence, creating targeted teams of experts, tapping external resources, and investing in outside ventures. Read More
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The Song That Must Not Be Named
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'Baby Shark Dance' is YouTube’s most-watched video. Photo: Pinkfong
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The video for “Baby Shark Dance,” a kids’ song so aggravatingly addictive that I probably ruined your morning just by mentioning it, is both YouTube’s most-watched clip ever and a bit of an underachiever.
All that viral power hasn’t translated into a mega fortune for Pinkfong, the South Korean company behind the two-minute jingle about a family of sharks. Pinkfong last year generated the equivalent of about $67 million in revenue, Jiyoung Sohn and Alana Pipe write.
The video’s success and its challenge turn out to reflect the same thing: an audience that’s highly prone to repeat viewing but off-limits for targeted advertising.
That goes back to 2020, when YouTube imposed stricter restrictions on children’s content including a ban on personalized ads.
Pinkfong isn’t giving up though: It is set to generate nearly $50 million in an IPO on Tuesday, which will help it create yet more content.
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“It’s our policy not to comment on market rumors, however, given the recent press coverage amplifying these rumors and the questions we’ve received from colleagues and clients, we want to clarify that we are not in discussions with WPP.”
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— Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré on recent press reports that he had his sights on the beleaguered owner of Ogilvy and VML
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Raising Cane’s, founded in 1996, has become known for its salmon-colored dipping sauce. Photo: Maggie Shannon for WSJ
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Raising Cane’s chicken chain has grown to nearly 1,000 locations with the help of a five-item menu that hasn’t changed since the beginning, attention-getting ad campaigns, vibrant stores and a very closely guarded sauce recipe, Nicholas G. Miller reports.
A list handwritten some 30 years ago by the co-founder of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and now kept in a safe at a secret location is the only physical copy of the recipe.
While copycat recipes and alleged leaks from disgruntled employees abound—skeptics say the sauce is similar to Thousand Island dressing—the company says only those who have seen the list really know.
The safe is just one of several security protocols Raising Cane’s employs to protect the sauce. Only managers are allowed to mix it, and each has to sign an NDA promising not to reveal what they’ve learned.
“It’s kept with a lot of pride and care and secrecy,” co-CEO AJ Kumaran said of the locked-up list.
Of course, all that sauce secrecy is also good marketing.
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The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.
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$6.5 million
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Chief marketing officers’ median reported compensation in 2025 at S&P 500 companies, compared with $1.9 million at Russell 3000 companies, according to a new report from The Conference Board. The figures cover only those CMOs named in proxy statements, typically meaning they rank among a company’s highest-paid executives, and generally reflect the previous fiscal year.
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Asking customers for a positive review can make them feel manipulated, a study suggests, Illustration: Beth Goody
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There’s a hidden risk when retailers ask for a five-star review. [WSJ]
The separation between marketing and communications at many companies is disappearing. [Digiday]
Vanity Fair’s latest annual Hollywood issue is all about guys. [NYT]
A writer told ChatGPT to widen its vocabulary so its replies would sound less like AI. It Seems to have worked. [Fast Company]
Here’s a roundup of holiday ads worth watching so far. [Adweek]
Heinz introduced squeezable “Leftover Gravy” for Thanksgiving and encouraged its use to replicate the “Moist Maker” sandwich from an old “Friends” episode. [Food & Wine]
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