Why we’re all in on performance branding – and how it can transform your growth.

A week later…IHOb turned out to be one of the great publicity stunts of our time

Bryan Karas

June 20, 2018

Whether you like it or not, IHOP did something really awesome last week and everyone knew about it – which is the best part. The publicity stunt became instant gold when every single news outlet started covering it and Twitter officially lost its mind.

So let’s dissect what happened…

Imagine the brainstorming meeting at IHOP corporate headquarters on how they can sell more burgers…what were the ideas? I’m sure someone said they could create a commercial highlighting the burgers or create a Facebook video ad of families ordering burgers – lame…

Then one crazy idea hit the table – “let’s change our name from International House of Pancakes to International House of Burgers.” Give that girl a raise!

So let’s cut right to the chase – did it work? Simple answer – yes.

According to IHOP President Darren Rebelez…”restaurants are seeing roughly four to seven times as many burger orders as they were before the switch.”

So what happened?

The president of IHOP was completely on board, listed his job title as “chief burger officer” on LinkedIn and wearing a burger pin on his suit lapel.

IHOP became the second-biggest trending global topic on Twitter on the day they launched – competing against the spectacle that was the meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un. In the U.S., IHOb held the first spot (IHOP), the second spot (IHOB) and the fourth spot  (International House) with over 86,000 tweets per hour at its peak.

According to Sprinklr – a social media management company – there were 1.8 Million mentions of IHOB and 1 million mentions of IHOP on Twitter from June 1 through the afternoon of June 13…that’s a lot of traction.

Even burger competitors started making comments – Wendy’s was a total hater.

Everything is on the table…especially 100% USDA Choice Black Angus Beef

We could go in and dissect every little piece of this marketing campaign – the landing pages, the social media posts, the PR etc – but there is one big lesson we can take away from this…

That all ideas, regardless of how crazy they may be, are and should be on the table. Let’s keep it real – changing your business name because you want to sell more burgers is a crazy idea. But it’s exactly the kind of idea that breaks through the clutter.

The next time you’re in a brainstorming sesh make sure you encourage all crazy ideas. Listen to those ideas and piggyback off the ideas to come up with your next big marketing campaign.


Need a Crazy Idea to Give Your Business a Boost – 14 PR Stunts That Actually Worked

In a time when it seems like the dumbest stuff goes viral…we all want to go viral – but it’s hard. Check out these 14 PR stunts that actually worked.


Sh*t You Need to Know

Twitter is expanding in-stream video ads to more advertisers globally

FB updates Custom Audiences list requirements to create more ad transparency

Facebook is taking on YouTube – opens up Watch to creators and adds new video features

Subscribe to the blog

About the Author

Bryan Karas

CEO

On a mission to save businesses $100M in wasted marketing spend by 2026. CEO at Playbook Media/ GrowTal, Angel Investor, Startup.

Related categories

Related Articles

LIFETIME VALUE

How to Connect Upper-Funnel Activities to Conversion Metrics

Dereka Smith

August 21, 2026

LIFETIME VALUE

Are You Ready for CTV? Here’s How to Know

No results found.

August 21, 2026

LIFETIME VALUE

How Meta’s AI Engine Actually Finds Your Next Customer (and What That Means for Your Ad Strategy)

No results found.

August 21, 2026

Subscribe to the blog

Let's Talk

In 30 minutes, we’ll help you find millions of wasted marketing dollars.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.