IHOP (IHOB) is Getting Dragged Online…It’s Amazing PR.
When I logged onto Twitter Monday morning to find that IHOP’s temporary name change to IHOB stood for burgers, I — like many others — rolled my eyes. Just what America needs, more burgers!! After reading a few funny tweets on the way to work, I figured I wouldn’t think about this again. In a vicious news cycle and on a day where the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea (!) were set to meet, I didn’t exactly think a burger story had staying power.
Boy was I wrong.
As I walked into work, the anchors on CNBC’s Squawk Box were talking about the stunt with IHOB’s new burgers prominently displayed.
This followed an onslaught of top tier coverage in every outlet imaginable from The Times, WSJ, USA Today, and everything in between.
In the social media world, the name change caught fire. Major brands with well known snarky online presences all jumped in on the fun. And while most of them were dragging IHOB for the move, they were all talking about a competitor.
Burger King even changed their name on Twitter!
In its simplest form, Public Relations is earned media-publicity that you don’t have to pay for. IHOB’s stunt resulted in viral top-tier media coverage and countless social media impressions. In our saturated news cycle, brands are getting more and more creative to break through. While many of these stunts fall flat, IHOB’s re-brand is a success story.
If I told my client that its announcement would be featured on the leading business TV shows, get written about in every news outlet, and spur its competitors to discuss it on social with their millions of followers, they would sign up for it every single time. (P.S. — don’t promise your client this.) Sure, a lot of the conversation wasn’t positive, but ultimately IHOB wants to be associated with burgers. They certainly are now.
Of course, it remains to be seen if this move will actually drive customers to the restaurant and impact the brand’s bottom line. Regardless, yesterday was a strong start. I probably haven’t been to IHOP in 15 years and can’t recall the last time I’ve even thought about the brand. But like everyone else, I’m thinking about them now. That’s successful PR.
