I just heard a radio ad for Circle K this morning in which their key claim was “Our hotdogs are 20% larger than the competition’s.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if they had market research that told them that people are driving around from convenience store to convenience store looking for who’s got the largest hot dog before they make that long-considered and well-researched hot dog purchase.

I’m also curious what kind of competitive research went into establishing that their dogs are 20% larger than their competitors. Whoever they define as their competitors must have noticed the guy with the tape measure lingering around the day-old hot dogs on those heater rollers measuring the hot dogs.

But, I guess for that hot dog-seeking niche market, this is good news. One might have suggested they target their messaging a bit more, but I’m not sure how best to target your messaging to those who will spend up to an hour seeking the largest convenience store hot dog.

– My name is Jon Friesch, and something strange is afoot at Circle K.