From “Girl Dinner” to Grimace, Ad Age looks back at some of the top food and beverage marketing of 2023.

5. Snoop D.O. Double G is a real foodie

Snoop Dogg was a familiar face in food commercials this year. In April, he narrated a campaign for 19 Crimes wine, which starred an action figure called Lil Snoop. The long-time Corona spokesperson turned heads that same month when he promoted hard seltzer brand Happy Dad.

On the food side, Jack in the Box launched a Munchie Meal inspired by Snoop in honor of the 10th anniversary of the chain’s late-night menu. The spots for the campaign, from TBWA\Chiat\Day, show Snoop leaving a familiar beach commercial set resembling his work for Corona to see his new Munchie Meal, and getting his own Jack in the Box intern, Mitch, who he renames “Mee-atch.”

In September, Grubhub brought its global “Did Somebody Say” campaign featuring Snoop to the U.S., complete with Snoop lending his lyrical skills to the ads, rapping about “tacos to the chateau” and “seafood sees me.”

Snoop Dogg’s Bored Ape NFT even got in on the action, launching its own Dr. Bombay Ice Cream at Walmart in July.

4. TikTok took over food menus

This year saw several TikTok trends make their way into the real world. Starting in March, Chipotle introduced the fajita quesadilla, which went viral on TikTok thanks to creators Alexis Frost and Keith Lee. Fans clamored for the quesadillas in restaurants, but they took too long to make, so Chipotle made it a permanent menu item for digital-only orders.

The next trend, “Girl Dinner,” came in July. The trend involved showing what some single women eat for dinner when dining solo, or moms who have the night to themselves after a long day. The low-effort meals range from small charcuterie boards to buttered pasta, popcorn, a single ice cream bar, tortilla chips with melted cheese or a pizza Lunchable. 

Popeye’s made its own version of girl dinner into a limited-time menu item and included mashed potatoes with gravy, mac and cheese, coleslaw, Cajun fries and two biscuits.

Panera leaned into the Roman Empire TikTok trend, which saw men being asked how often they think of the Roman Empire, with a curated menu online that included its eight most popular menu items. In October, Pizza Hut worked with TikToker Anna Sitar for its $7 Pizza Lovers Deal. Sitar explained how the deal works because of “girl math.” The “Girl Math” trend began with videos of women depicting how they are spending their money, including how they justify and rationalize buying items (whether on sale or not) and consider cost-per-wear metrics ahead of purchases. 

3. Taco Tuesday

Taco Bell made headlines in May when the chain decided to “liberate” the phrase “Taco Tuesday”—a trademark that had been largely held by smaller competitor Taco John’s since 1989. Taco Bell argued that the phrase was too ubiquitous to be trademarked. The brand enlisted the help of Deutsch LA and LeBron James for a campaign that featured James using the phrase “Taco Tuesday,” but “Tuesday” is bleeped out. (James himself had tried to trademark the phrase in 2019.)

Taylor Montgomery, Taco Bell’s U.S. chief marketing officer, even defended the chain’s pursuit of the phrase during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything.” And in July, Taco Bell got its way. Taco John’s opted to give up the phrase, citing an estimated cost of $1 million to defend the trademark.

“This is a shared victory with taco allies everywhere,” Mark King, Taco Bell’s CEO, said in a statement. “Taco John’s decision to join the movement and liberate Taco Tuesday means countless businesses big and small, restaurants and taco vendors can now embrace, celebrate and champion ‘Taco Tuesdays’ freely.”

Taco Bell celebrated by giving fans one free Doritos Locos Taco every Tuesday in August, and then opened a tab on DoorDash to pay for taco purchases from local vendors.

2. Here comes the bride—with Chili’s

As all brands know, when a fan organically and positively posts about you on social media, you have to jump on it. That’s what happened to Chili’s in May when a bride shared that she fed her entire wedding party for less than $2,000 using Chili’s catering.

Just days later, Chili’s—with help from agency Mischief—announced a contest in which the first three couples to propose at a Chili’s restaurant would get their wedding fully catered for free by the chain.

In addition to the catering contest, Chili’s purchased all of the original bride’s remaining items on her wedding registry.

This year, Chili’s also leaned into nostalgic marketing. In February, the chain featured R&B star Brian McKnight in a new spot promoting Chili’s “3 for Me” to the tune of “Back at One.” It most recently had Boyz II Men sing the chain’s famous Baby Back Ribs Jingle.

1. Grimace’s birthday shake

In June, McDonald’s did some nostalgic marketing of its own with a new birthday meal for Grimace, which included a choice of a Big Mac or 10-piece McNuggets with fries along with a berry-flavored purple milkshake. The campaign from Wieden+Kennedy was meant to recall childhood birthday parties at a McDonald’s PlayPlace.

The meal was a success sales-wise, fueled by the “Grimace Shake trend” on TikTok in which Gen Zers would pretend to pass out or be attacked by the purple blob after taking a sip of the shake. Many of the videos were like mini horror films, with “victims” passing out or sputtering up the purple shake.

McDonald’s even acknowledged the absurd trend on X, formerly Twitter, with a photo of Grimace captioned, “meee pretending i don’t see the grimace shake trendd.”