IHOP has performed a number of marketing stunts over time to catch consumer attention, including swapping the “P” for a “B” in its name to have fun an expanded line of burgers in 2018. The diner chain’s next big swing is available in the shape of 20,000 pancakes.
Ahead of the twentieth anniversary of National Pancake Day, IHOP will try to break the Guinness World Record for many pancakes served in a single eight-hour period, with $1 donated to Feeding America per flapjack. The “20K for Pancake Day” blitz, which can happen on the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday (March 1), is the primary major step within the Dine Brands-owned marketer’s attempt to return to relevancy, a technique that also includes in-housing creative functions and fresh marketing leadership.
“The reason we’re doing this, the entire catalyst, was for us to position ourselves and make ourselves culturally relevant,” said Lenna Yamamichi, who stepped into the newly created role of vice chairman of IHOP brand creative earlier this 12 months. “We want people to be talking about IHOP. We’re hoping that, with an activation like this, that [IHOP] becomes top of mind.”
Yamamichi, a restaurant industry veteran who previously worked at Taco Bell for over twenty years, is prioritizing social media and public relations in a shift away from a previous deal with what she termed “blanket promoting.” The executive wants to recognize audiences that go deeper than broad-based demographics, whether meaning Gen Z teenagers like her own daughter or mothers who love Ugg boots and Stanley tumblers. The pivot to a social-first mindset — an increasingly common one in a world dominated by apps like TikTok — has also involved instating more lively social listening practices.
“We are each day listening and ensuring that we’re on-trend,” said Yamamichi. “When something happens, you literally only have 24 hours to respond.”
Bringing IHOP’s marketing transformation to fruition also means wresting more direct control over marketing duties through a big in-housing push. The Brand Amp previously handled IHOP’s social work while Pereira O’Dell was its creative agency of record since 2022. Pereira O’Dell notably handled a rebrand for IHOP that centered on smile iconography.
“As we enter our next chapter, we’re focused on ensuring the brand shows up holistically and with consistency. As such, we now have ultimately decided to move our social and creative work in-house,” an IHOP spokesperson said over email. “This 12 months’s celebration of National Pancake Day marks our first large cultural activation and initiative on this next phase. We are very proud of our partnerships with Pereira O’Dell and The Brand Amp and the work we now have done together. We thank them for his or her commitment to the brand, creativity and support of our strategic growth objectives over time.”
Dine-in opportunity
“20K for Pancake Day” follows a difficult 12 months for restaurants marked by consumer spending pullbacks and increased promotional activity. Domestic same-store sales, a key metric of industry health, declined 2.1% for IHOP in Q3 of 2024, per an earnings statement from parent Dine Brands, which also owns Applebee’s and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop.
The pancake push has incentives beyond the Guinness World Record attempt. On National Pancake Day (March 4), IHOP will offer dine-in customers a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at participating locations.
IHOP setting a more ambitious marketing agenda for 2025 comes as other dine-in brands have seen a surge in interest thanks to savvier social media strategies which have won purchase with Gen Z. Chili’s is the category star of the moment, with TikTok cheese-pull videos and viral menu offerings just like the Triple Dipper helping to deliver an eye-popping 31% jump in comparable sales in its most up-to-date fiscal quarter.
IHOP is chasing the same sales opportunity, but Yamamichi also hopes the National Pancake Day campaign can remind people of the worth the diner offers as a gathering place for families and friends.
“It’s that sense of belonging to something larger that I feel is the necessary part of this event to start to kick off that brand momentum,” said Yamamichi.
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