On the cusp of closure, Howard Brown Health Center rallied its supporters around what it does best: serving Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ community by providing comprehensive and nonjudgmental health care. Check out the case study below for analysis and best practices on building and executing an effective emergency fundraising campaign.

Campaign Summary

 The International House of Pancakes (IHOP), a family restaurant chain known for pancakes and breakfast dishes, flipped the script last summer when it made a dramatic name chain to promote a new line of burgers on its menu. In June 2018, IHOP announced the reversal of the final letter in its name: “IHOb” – “b” standing for “burgers.”[i] (Figure 1)

IHOb’s menu of seven new burgers attempted to challenge fast food classics like McDonald’s Big Mac with its own “Mega Monster” burger. “Everyone knows that IHOP makes world-famous pancakes, so we felt like the best way to convince them that we are as serious about our new line of Ultimate Steakburgers as we are about our pancakes was to change our name to IHOb,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for IHOb restaurants.i
The announcement set the Internet on fire. IHOP President Darren Rebelez said the company garnered “32.3 billion earned media impressions, 20,000 news articles,” and made them the “number two trending topic globally for Twitter, just behind the North Korea summit.”[ii]

Fast food chains weighed in on Twitter. Wendy’s, a national burger joint notorious for its aggressive tone on social media, tweeted the day of the announcement, “Not really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard” and “Remember when you were like 7 and thought changing your name to Thunder BearSword would be super cool? Like that, but our cheeseburgers are still better.”[iii] Waffle House, a breakfast food chain, said in a tweet accompanying a copy of its burger menu, “Even though we serve delicious burgers... we know our roots.”[iv] Burger King, another fast food competitor, temporarily changed its name to “Pancake King” on Twitter.[v]

One month later, the company revealed the name change was simply a publicity stunt.[vi] (Figure 2) The name change followed IHOP’s 1.9 percent decline for same-restaurant sales in fiscal year 2017. Founded in 1958[vii], International House of Pancakes, LLC is a subsidiary of Dine Brands Global (NYSE: DIN), which is also the parent company Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar®.[viii] Although IHOb has been retired, the stunt netted unprecedented social media engagement for the 60th birthday of this pancake chain. IHOP’s pancake commitment has never been stronger and the burger menu will be sticking around, too.

Discussion Questions
 

1. Did this campaign have a clear vision, and did campaign goals seem to align with company goals?
   • Yes. IHOP and reporters in the media openly shared evaluations of this campaign’s success per the company’s goals.
   • Following the announcement of its return to IHOP, one Twitter user joked that IHOP’s change of name must not have gone well. However, IHOP shared direct insights to its campaign goal, still playing on the “p” to “b” replacement, “The blan was to get beople talking about our new burgers. And it worked. Look at us, two silly pancakes talkin’ about burgers.”vii
   • CBS and the Associated Press said that while fans said the stunt was "bizarre" and "a nightmare,” IHOb’s bigger goal was achieved: The name change got consumers (and practically everyone) talking about the brand.vi IHOP President Darren Rebelez said IHOP saw 32.3 billion earned media impressions and 20,000 news articles over the course of the life of this campaign.ii Earnings are to be announced at the end October.viii

 

1. Did this campaign seem to be authentically tailored and useful to a targeted audience where that audience is?
   • Yes. IHOP shared this was a research-informed campaign. The nature of this campaign had a large and blanketed audience. With that, Rebelez shared in an interview with CNN Money, “We tested this idea in front of some of our guests and some focus groups and the reaction that we saw play out on social media is exactly what we saw in those focus groups: an initial emotional reaction, a rejection, no way can you do this,” he said.[ix]
   • Rebelez also shared that the company sacrificed short-term confusion for long-term brand gain. IHOP expected some consumers to be confused and annoyed -- by the temporary name change to IHOb. But he said IHOP had to "do something bold and something creative" to stand out amongst its competitors -- even if it meant making some loyal pancake fans briefly upset.ix

 

1. Did this campaign lead people to action? Did it ask for action, and did it obtain the action that would help it meet campaign goals - sales, conversions of another kind, engagement, etc.?
   • Yes. This campaign is a lesson in effectively cultivating an international conversation about your product or business. Rebelez said as a result of the name change, “Literally everybody on the planet now knows that we're in the burger business.”ii Earnings will be announced at the end of the month.
   • This campaign helped open the door for IHOP’s new business partnership with app-based delivery services like Door Dash, announced one month after the IHOb name change.[x] This expands customers’ opportunity for action.

[i] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ihops-name-change-what-does-ihob-stand-for-6-11-18/

[ii] http://fortune.com/2018/07/19/ihop-president-ihob-name-change/

[iii] https://twitter.com/Wendys

[iv] https://twitter.com/WaffleHouse

[v] twitter.com/JonAcuff/status/1006334448818933762/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5
Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1006334448818933762&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F5310020%2Fburger-king-pancake-king-ihop-ihob%2F

[vi] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shocking-ihop-admits-it-faked-ihob-name-change/

[vii] https://www.ihop.com/en/about-ihop

[viii] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dineequity-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-2017-results-300600964.html

[ix] https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/19/investing/ihop-president-darren-rebelez-burgers-ihob/index.html

[x] https://www.foodnewsfeed.com/fsr/chain-restaurants/ihop-delivery-goes-national-doordash