Applebee’s CMO on new NFL sponsorship, TikTok marketing and the chicken wing wars

Football fans are going to be seeing a lot more of Applebee’s Grill + Bar. The chain is tapping into the wide reach of the NFL with a new sponsorship deal that begins with the NFL Draft later this month. The multi-year pact makes Applebee's the NFL's “official grill and bar.” Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Applebee’s deal adds to NFL’s sponsorship haul that already includes other restaurant brands Subway (in the quick service restaurant category) and Little Caesars, which took over the NFL’s pizza sponsorship from Pizza Hut in 2022. Applebee's is considered a casual dining chain, a category in which the NFL has typically not struck sponsorships; it had a brief deal with IHOP in 2009. For Applebee’s, the deal gets the chain deeper involved with America’s most popular sport. Since 2019 it has sponsored the pregame show for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” “We know as marketers that live sports are a great way to connect with customers, and the NFL is one of the biggest and most popular leagues,” said Joel Yashinsky, Applebee’s chief marketing officer. “Another part of this is that we have other partners—Pepsi, Anheuser Busch, Barefoot Wine—who are also NFL sponsors, so there will be opportunities to leverage those relationships. At the end of the day, it’s all about driving sales and traffic to our restaurants.” He did not disclose exactly how Applebee’s may work with other NFL sponsors. Ad Age Breakout Brand Leaders New award honors the people behind emerging brands Enter here The move follows three consecutive quarterly declines in Applebee’s U.S. same-store sales. For the fourth quarter of 2023, when the chain’s same-store sales fell 0.5% from a year earlier, parent company Dine Brands Global Inc. cited a decrease in traffic, or visits to Applebee’s restaurants. In February, Dine Brands predicted Applebee’s U.S. same-store sales would be flat to up 2% in 2024. Dine Brands also owns IHOP and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and has experimented with operating jointly branded Applebee’s-IHOP locations. Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Initiative is Applebee’s media agency, while WPP’s Grey handles creative. Applebee’s sponsor ads will run during nationally broadcast NFL games and as digital ads. The chain is also offering 20 free boneless wings with a $40 online or app purchase during the Draft.Look back: Football marketing news from the 2023-2024 season Wings were also the focus of a recent Applebee’s campaign that claimed the chain’s boneless wings were “America’s favorite,” and “we don’t even have chicken in our name,” the commercial says. Also read: Popeyes, Wingstop and the chicken wing wars Read on for Yashinksy’s view on Applebee’s marketing mix, how it’s competing on wings and other menu items, and how the brand has built on its social media virality after country music singer Walker Hayes wrote “Fancy Like,” a song about date night at Applebee’s that sparked a TikTok dance trend that the chain turned into a TV ad. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Why are you all leaning into chicken wings? Our boneless wings are one of the top items on our menu and they get great feedback. We tested this out in an online survey, and finished third behind Wingstop and Buffalo Wild Wings. So then we did a taste test in four markets, and came out on top, which we are proud of. We have seen an uptick in sales and I think there are a few things driving that. Chicken is the number one protein out there right now and [wings] go well with sports. The increased sales mean chicken is getting some extra focus from us, and we’ll have more chicken-related news this summer. Looking at Applebee’s media mix overall, in what channels are you seeing good ROI, and where are you pulling back? We have had some really great success on TikTok in the last few years, both on engagement and broadening our audience. We were originally looking to talk to Gen Z, but now we use it to talk to everyone because the platform is so widely used. We are still engaged on Meta platforms and Snapchat. We try to make sure that we are focusing on what is hot in pop culture. Last year there was a lot of talk around UFOs, so we put a landing pad on top of one of our restaurants in Las Vegas in case anyone from outer space wanted a to-go order. @applebees To our intergalactic neighbors, we hope you enjoy our convenient rooftop parking for your spacecraft. PSA for all: remember to fly responsibly. #NationalGoodNeighborDay ♬ original sound - Applebee’s Grill + Bar Applebee’s had a viral moment with Walker Hayes in 2021. What did you learn from that? How did it shape your marketing approach? Absolutely it had an impact on our approach in general. We learned that authenticity wins, if you can align with what’s natural and breaks through. [Hayes] made a song because he really is a fan, and we wanted to nurture that versus exploit it. And we turned the TikTok trend into an ad. We then followed it up with our Saucy Glosses (a line of lip glosses in partnership with Winky Lux inspired by Applebee’s wing sauces). Food and music and sports are key elements to our overall strategy. What is the biggest challenge Applebee’s is currently facing? It's the challenge that the industry is facing—the unknown that all of our guests are dealing with in terms of economic pressures. We lean into being that place where we can lift you up in your day or week, where you can come spend your hard-earned money. What trends are you watching? There are a lot of trends we are keeping an eye on. One of them is social media—what content do they want to see, who do they want to hear from? How do we make content that is naturally connected to the brand? On the food side, our new head of culinary Chef Shannon Johnson has been working with the marketing and insights and analytics teams on what’s working for guests, so we’ll have more food news coming out. We’ll have a new appetizer in May, and news around chicken in June. For beverages, we are working hard on what resonates, both alcoholic and not. We launched our $10 Bacardi rum buckets earlier this year to go with our refocus on wings. We also just launched our Whole Lotta Bacon burger. ~ ~ ~CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated Applebee’s on-site NFL Draft plans due to incorrect information shared with Ad Age. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Applebee’s CMO on new NFL sponsorship, TikTok marketing and the chicken wing wars

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