Carl's Jr. & Hardee's Reveal New Brand Identity

Carl’s Jr. & Hardee’s Reveal New Brand Identity

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s brands are getting a makeover with a new redesign that is aimed at making the brand “look as good as the food tastes.” 

These design changes will be rolled out in the CKE’s restaurants across employee uniforms, in-store signage, food packaging and advertising, among other things. The redesign comes after the brand rolled out a new loyalty program and app.

“Our food has consistently remained the high-quality, craveable option that sets itself apart from the rest of the category – the new design work was created to provide customers with a visual reminder that our Happy Star leads the way to those epic bites that they know and love.,” said Ben Miller, vice president of branding and creative strategy at CKE.  “This has also been a huge year for CKE with our recent $500M market transformation plan and our My Rewards loyalty program and app launch – the redesigned identity felt like the natural next step in our efforts to continue evolving the brands in a more distinctive and ownable way.” 

The new look, created by Design Bridge, is inspired by the company’s iconic menu items including their Happy Star charbroiled burgers and crispy chicken.

“Our mission is to Feed Happiness, and the primary way we do that is through our food,” said Miller. “Every element of the new branding reflects different elements of that in creative and authentic ways, reminding customers at every touchpoint that our food is what sets us apart.”

The Happy Star logo has been updated with a charbroiled textured shadow. The color palette has new colors inspired by the food items including: Charbroil Black, American Cheese Yellow, Flame Red and Biscuit Cream.

To promote the redesign, the brand is running its “Feed Your Happy” campaign across television, radio and digital including: Snapchat, TikTok, Kargo and Yahoo. Additionally, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s running the Score Big Cup Game & Sweepstakes. Customers that order a large combo meal will receive a 37.5 oz Big Cup with a dedicated QR code. Consumers can scan the cups for the chance to win instant prizes which include: free menu items and a grand prize trip to the College Football Bowl Game and VIP Experience in Pasadena or the College Football Conference Championship Game in Atlanta.

“The Big Cup Sweepstakes allows our guests to indulge throughout the season and even gives them a chance to win free menu items and an amazing grand prize of free tickets to the game of their choosing amid the college football season,” said Miller. “The cup itself also features some of our new branding which was a nice way to start to show people the new designs.”