A lesson in CX Value drawn from a famous fast-food commercial.
This article is part of our Customer Experience Hub — a collection of articles that explore the architecture, practices, and mindset behind great CX, all grounded in real-world teaching and consulting experience.
Customers don’t believe value because you say it — they believe it because they can see it.
The Iconic Commercial
In 1984, a fast-food commercial for Wendy’s in the United States became unexpectedly famous.
Three older women stood around a competitor’s hamburger with a tiny patty sitting inside a giant bun.
The ad cleverly contrasted Wendy’s larger hamburger patties with the competitor’s much smaller one — positioning Wendy’s as offering better value, more meat for your money.
One woman — actress Clara Peller — leans in, squints at the sandwich, and barks:
“Where’s the beef?”
It became a cultural moment.
I was in university at the time, and I remember everyone — including my brother — running around saying the line exactly the way Clara did.
The message of the commercial was clear:
If you promise value, people expect to see it. And when they don’t see it, they notice.
My Own “Where’s the Beef?” Moment
A few years ago, we received a renewal invoice for an industry association we belonged to.
The fee was — as it was every year — $2,500. At the time, we were spending more than $8,000 a year on various industry memberships.
I printed the invoice, walked over to my colleague Marcus, and — channeling Clara Peller — asked:
“Where’s the beef?”
At first he laughed. But then we both paused, because the question was fair.
What exactly were we receiving in exchange for that $2,500?
So we put that membership through our own “Where’s the beef?” test.
Those conversations forced us to get specific about what actually mattered to us in a membership.
Did the membership help us get something done — functional value?
Like a vacuum cleaner that simply does its job.Did the membership make our work easier, smoother, or faster — experiential value?
The way a good 3-in-1 shampoo simplifies your morning routine.Did the membership create any emotional connection for us — emotional value?
The way I feel as a longtime USAA member.Did the membership help us become something we wanted to become — identity value?
Like taking a university course or earning a professional certification.
We kept answering no.
And as we talked it through, we realized something else.
We had joined the association largely because of social identity — people like us were “supposed” to belong to organizations like this.
But social identity alone wasn’t enough to justify a renewal. Not without other kinds of value.
Value Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Organizations sometimes fall in love with their own value proposition. They advertise it, celebrate it, and build entire hierarchies around it.
Some even claim that they “deliver value”.
But Customers — whether Guests, Patients, Clients, or Members — don’t renew based on what you say is valuable.
They renew based on what they experience as valuable.
And those two things — what you say and what they experience — aren’t necessarily aligned.
That’s why the Clara Peller question is actually a powerful Customer Experience question too.
Because it puts the perception of value in the Customer’s hands — where it belongs, for every Guest, Patient, Passenger, Client, or Member.
And if that Customer perceives value that matters to them — wonderful.
If they don’t, they may eventually make the same choice we did — quietly and without fuss, they leave.
And sometimes their choice isn’t to go to a competitor at all, but simply to do nothing: not renew, not attend, not engage.
From Insight to Action
This is one of the simplest — and most revealing — exercises a Customer Experience team can do:
- Choose a product, service, or invoice.
- Ask “Where’s the beef?”
- Consider which ‘kinds’ of value this is for the Customer. Even better — go find out.
- Then think about what changes would make that value unmistakable.
Here’s Another Exercise
- Print a batch of real Customer invoices.
- Gather Senior Leaders around a table.
- Play the “Where’s the beef?” commercial to set the stage.
- Ask each Leader to hold up a Customer invoice and articulate the value proposition for the Customer expected to pay it.
- Capture the themes and qualitative insights you hear in their answers.
- Go find out the Customer’s context — and what kinds of value matter to them.
What Running an Art Gallery Taught Us About CX in the Real World
Thank You for Reading
I regularly share stories, strategies, and insights from our work across Contact Centers, Customer Service, and Customer Experience. If this resonates, I’d love to stay connected.
You can drop me a line anytime, or subscribe via our website.
Daniel Ord
[email protected]
www.omnitouchinternational.com
Photo by Gang Coo on Unsplash
