Arby's Is Airing 13 Straight Hours of Smoked Brisket on Television

[Recursion]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/05/23/arby_s_smoked_brisket_the_restaurant_is_airing_a_13_hour_commercial_to_advertise.html

Forget the Yule Log. How would you like to see 13-straight hours of meat on film? If that sounds up your alley, then Arby's has you covered, thanks to a TV ad it will be airing this weekend to promote a new sandwich mounded with brisket cooked for—you guessed it—13 hours. The New York Times reports that the commercial is free of talking and consists of a single take of the brisket cooking away through the glass window of a smoker.

The promotion is expected to earn Arby's a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records and blow past the existing entry for longest television commercial—a paltry 60-minute affair put on by Nivea in 2011. The entire effort will cost about $250,000, according to the Times, which is a fraction of the $94.7 million Arby's spent on U.S. advertising in 2013. All in all, the stunt sounds like a pretty good deal for Arby's, especially if it takes off on social media as the company hopes. (We realize we are part of the problem. But it's Friday. Would you really rather be reading about Piketty?)

Arby's has arranged for the commercial to air on a single television station in Duluth, Minnesota. The action starts at 1 p.m. Central time on Saturday and ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday with an Arby's exec removing the brisket from its smoker and slicing the meat for a sandwich. It will also play in a one-time livestream of the event from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. The takeaway is that if you live in Duluth and come home drunk and hungry on Saturday night, you'll have a big hunk of meat to stare at.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

1. I don't need to see the commercial because I already plan on taste-testing that sandwich. nt

[Aerows]

5. You and me both!

I'll doctor it up with some Horsey sauce, too.


EDIT: Oh God, it has fried onions and gouda on it ... I'm drooling.

[elehhhhna]

7. IT's legit dammned good brisket (and I'm a Texan, I know my brisket!)

[ChisolmTrailDem]

10. We both are and we both do, elehhhhna =) Glad to hear it's good! Will try it at some point

over the weekend.

[shenmue]

2. Mmmmmm

Nom nom nom.

[packman]

3. In reply

Sherman Williams is airing a 20 hr. video of paint drying, Scott's Lawn Seed of a two week video of grass growing, and the RNC never ending video of it passing a meaningful law to aid the poor.

[elehhhhna]

8. I can top that - Cialis is showing a 4 hour erection.

DUzy for me.

[TexasTowelie]

4. Brisket lover here!

Too bad that it is coming from Arby's though since I've never been impressed with them.

Do they have a good barbecue sauce though? My mom made it with brown sugar and onions.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Here's a concept... Brisket smoked by the Yule Log!

Makes me hungry for Richard N Hughes eating a loose-meat sandwich!

What's your opinion. We'd like to know...

[abbeyco]

9. It's a delicious sandwich!

I've had it in ATL and in DEN and it's just wonderful. However, because I like my bbq sauce in small doses, I have the bbq sauce on the side. The gouda and fried onions are just perfection on top of some really good brisket.

[JJChambers]

11. Smoked brisket and pulled pork for lunch today!

Man food