000306 Hardee's Launching $100M Campaign With Pop Singers

Rocky Mount, NC - Hardee's Food Systems, Inc., the fast-food chain whose 2800 restaurants are located primarily in the Southeast and Midwest, is launching a $100 million marketing and advertising campaign featuring popular entertainers singing the praises of its food.

The campaign, which starts Sunday, March 5, will include original music and lyrics performed by the artists Lou Bega, Boyz II Men, Lace and the duo of Smokey Robinson and Vonda Shepard. In the television spots, they will proclaim "the great big taste of Hardee's," emphasizing its Super Star cheeseburger (Bega), Made From Scratche Biscuits (Boyz II Men, Robinson and Shepard), and chicken sandwiches (Lace), the firm said.

The campaign, developed by Irvine, Calif.-based Johnson/Ukropina Creative Marketing, Hardee's national creative agency, will include newspaper inserts and in-store merchandising.

Hardee's, based in Rocky Mount, N.C., was founded in 1961 and acquired in 1997 by CKE Restaurants, Inc., (NYSE:CKR - news)of Anaheim, Calif. It has 1,397 company-operated and 1,278 franchised stores in 34 states, as well as 113 stores in 10 foreign countries.

Hardee's is in the midst of a major revitalization campaign, with nearly a quarter of its restaurants remodeled to include charbroiling, food made fresh- to-order, all-you-can-drink beverage bars and sit-down service. It expects the entire chain to be remodeled by 2002.

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