The Genius of “Jack’s Back”

I don’t follow fast food/QSR advertising as closely as I used to, but this morning I read that Jack in the Box is planning to close up to 200 restaurants, suspend dividends, and explore selling Del Taco.

The business and the brand are on hard times.

So I went looking for the spots that once brought Jack in the Box back from the dead.

In the 1990s, after an E. coli outbreak literally killed people and shattered public trust, Jack in the Box turned to TBWA\Chiat\Day. It led to one of the greatest brand comebacks in advertising history: “Jack’s Back.”

The campaign reintroduced Jack — a fictional CEO with a ping-pong ball for a head and a boardroom full of bad ideas to fix. It was bold, irreverent, smart, and actually badass. For years, every car had a Jack antenna-topper.

One way to revive a brand is to forget the past ever happened. Ignore it. Don’t acknowledge it. “Jack’s Back” leaned in.

It took on public perception, acknowledged it, and maybe even kinda relished it. That kind of self-awareness was revolutionary.

Jack took control. He literally murdered the board of directors.

This is the kind of work that inspired me to get into this business. I followed the campaign closely, I’m sure I knew every spot — especially when I later worked on the Taco Bell account and helped launch what may be the only QSR campaign to rival “Jack’s Back”: “Think Outside the Bun.”

One of my all-time favorites is a Cops-style takedown of a guy who calls the brand “Junk in the Box.” I happen to have it right here:

People wrote off Jack in the Box after the E. coli crisis. Maybe it's due for another miracle comeback.