Zaxby's Refreshes Macon, Ga., Tourism Push With Milkshakes

Sluuuurp! 

That’s the sound of just about everyone in Macon, Ga., including the city’s mayor, Lester Miller, enjoying Zaxby’s milkshakes in a campaign from Tombras that does double duty.

On the one hand, it hypes the return of the popular beverages after seven years—but only in Macon. In addition, the spots serve as a tourism campaign for the historic burgh, located about 90 minutes south of Atlanta.

Lester’s got re-election in the bag—the Zaxby’s bag!

It’s cute stuff that plays like a milder version of Cornett’s offbeat pitches for Lexington, Ky. There’s also a Ryan Reynolds sensibility at play, with two brands cleverly fused into one message.

“It is pretty incredible that we brought an entire city together to lure tourists with milkshakes,” says Avinash Baliga, ECD of Tombras. “Everyone was in on the joke, including the mayor, and every person in the ads are real Maconite.”

He adds: “These milkshakes are a very compelling reason to ditch your Paris or Barcelona vacation plans and plan a trip to Macon, Ga., instead.”

The shakes come in chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and birthday cake. That beats choking down buttered snails on Seine any day.

In a twist, shortly after the push broke, Zaxby’s put its creative account in review, per AdAge.