Social media operates in a way that allows brands and individuals share information and create buzz in a very powerful and immediate way. This can be done for both positive campaigns, but can also be used in crisis communications.
With that being said, I am going to be talking about a campaign that focuses on a very important food group: pancakes.
That is, the International House of Pancakes, or IHOP.
I love IHOP – great food and atmosphere – and a pretty iconic brand. They have done some great work tapping into social media trends and current events on social media, while also staying true to their brand voice.
However, they created a buzz a few days ago when they announced they were going to be changing their name from IHOP to IHOB. Of course, you can imagine what the Internet did with this news.
Today, they announced the B was to stand for Burgers. Personally, I love burgers, but I was hoping for bacon myself!
With this particular campaign and case study, it really showed a lot of differences here when it came to taking the news perhaps of this new change for the company on social media. These are some of the strategies I have discussed in my social media book and will be highlighted in HubSpot’s new social media certification plan.
Translating buzz to action. IHOP not just changed their handle on social media, but they are going to be doing this in person at their stores as well. For a temporary action for a campaign, this is definitely a serious investment for the brand, but shows they are willing to take the conversation offline. How this will be evaluated by the media and customers will be interesting – we will have to wait and see. Everything of course had to be coordinated and executed at the same time. Social media, digital (their website reflects this change), outdoor, traditional, etc. Coordination and being in sync with the message and branding is critical here for a strong execution for a campaign.
You can see the complete write up from AdWeek here.
Disrupting the norm through word of mouth communication. I think we are going to see more creative activations and campaigns that will continue to push the boundaries of both creativity and strategy here. Brands are constantly working on trying to create relevant and memorable experiences, and it’s getting harder and harder to do this. We have seen it all now – and if audience members feel what they are seeing is “boring” – that really takes a toll on the overall reputation and brand image for a company.
However, with actions like this that make all of us stop and say – okay, what is going on here? That’s what IHOP has done in this case. We all were asking ourselves – will it be Burgers? Bacon? Beer? The choices kept coming up in our communities. That’s the key here – IHOP succeeded in getting us to talk about them, and that’s the power of word of mouth on social media.
You can always count on other brands to jump and be part of the conversation. Brandjacking, trendsjacking, and real time marketing are not new strategies in the social media world. Sometimes they work (ex. Oreo), and there are many cases where they not. Brands are listening and monitoring on what is trending, and evaluating whether or not to jump into the conversation. If it makes sense, then it works, but it all depends on evaluating the overall sentiment and context of the situation. A&W jumped into the conversation on Twitter in a unique way.
I’m going to wait until Wendy’s responds (just sent them a tweet – stay tuned!)
In summary, I think this is an interesting campaign and case to show students, professors, and colleagues in the industry so we can see what can be possible, and the role social media plays in the overall campaign network. I would be interested in seeing the overall data and metrics that come out of the conversation here for the brand, and their overall share of voice for their campaign. I am sure over the course of the next few days, we will see more of these discussions happening on blogs, websites, and media outlets.
As this case study shows, it’s not just about social media here. Social media plays a centralized role in a campaign like this to spark dialogue and discussion, but it has to be tied to strategy and creative execution across different channels on and offline.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,.
