Carl's Jr. is turning its 85th-anniversary marketing push into a paid creative brief open to the public, offering a single grand prize of $85,000 to the fan who produces the most compelling original video advertisement for the chain.
The contest opens July 20 and accepts submissions through Aug. 7, 2026. Entrants must post an original 30-to-60-second video to TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, tag the brand's handle, and include the hashtags #MyCarlsJrAd and #Carls85th. The promotion is restricted to U.S. residents aged 18 and older and excludes Florida, New York, and Rhode Island. One entry per person is permitted.
The Bracket Format
The selection process borrows a structure familiar from sports: ten finalists, announced on or around Aug. 23, will be seeded into what CKE Restaurants is calling "The Carl's Creative Bracket," a head-to-head voting experience hosted on Carl's Jr.'s social channels. The eventual winner will be determined by a combination of public engagement metrics and scores from an internal Carl's Jr. selection committee, with the grand prize announced on or around Aug. 28. Second-place, third-place, and five runner-up prizes are also offered under the official rules, though only the $85,000 grand prize has been publicly quantified.
"For 85 years, our fans have been the real stars," said Burge Diemer, chief marketing officer at Carl's Jr. "This contest is designed to celebrate the people who have helped shape Carl's Jr. into what it is today."
Scale and Strategic Context
The contest is a relatively low-cost awareness vehicle for a chain of Carl's Jr.'s scale. CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the Franklin, Tennessee-based parent company, operates or franchises more than 3,600 Carl's Jr. and Hardee's locations across domestic and international markets, with Carl's Jr. alone present in more than 1,000 U.S. restaurants and 24 countries. At $85,000, the prize represents a fraction of what a professionally produced national television spot would cost, while simultaneously generating organic social content and measurable audience engagement data the brand can use beyond the contest window.
The approach is consistent with a broader shift in quick-service restaurant marketing toward user-generated content strategies, particularly among chains seeking to extend reach on short-form video platforms without proportionally increasing media budgets. For franchised systems, fan-driven content also carries the advantage of authentic product representation — entrants are, by definition, engaged customers familiar with the menu.
The winning video may be featured across Carl's Jr.'s social channels, website, paid media placements, and other promotional uses, giving the brand potential evergreen creative assets from a single $85,000 outlay. That calculus will not be lost on other QSR operators evaluating anniversary campaign structures as the contest plays out publicly through late August.
CKE's dual-brand portfolio, which also includes Hardee's with its Made from Scratch biscuits positioning, has historically leaned on bold creative to differentiate in a crowded burger segment. The 85th-anniversary contest extends that tradition into the participatory media environment, asking fans to internalize and reproduce the brand's identity rather than simply consume it.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
