Situation: Applebee’s is America’s largest casual-dining restaurant chain, with ~1,599 locations. Almost 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of an Applebee’s. The brand’s promise is Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood. For 40+ years, it’s served up good food and good vibes. The category as a whole has been on unsteady ground since the ‘08 financial crisis, when diners left in pursuit of affordable fast-casual options. A few years later, the industry faced new competition in the form of third-party delivery apps [CNN]. Then, COVID-19 hit, and many believed it could be the final blow [Fox5].

Brief: By 2021, the good food and good vibes that Applebee’s was known for had fallen off. Applebee’s sales hit their lowest point in Q2 2020, leading many to speculate that the end was near [mashed].

Our objective: reverse the sales decline, and bring the good vibes back to Applebee’s.

When America’s vibes were down, we used Applebee’s good food and good music to bring them back up, time after time, with hit after hit – to benefit the business.

When Americans were urged to go on a New Years diet, we became the official destination for your cheat day by partnering with country artist Big Wet in creating “All You Can Cheat” for our All You Can Eat promotion.

When Gen Z was nervous about dating post-pandemic, we created a make-out anthem with a saucy call to action, “Taste My Face,” and launched “Saucy Gloss,” a chicken wing flavored lip gloss to make their kisses more cravable.

When the nation was feeling down with all the weirdness of 2021, we gave them a huge dose of optimism with the song of the summer, “Fancy Like.” This urged our customers to go out and embrace date night again.

Half of Americans felt 2021 was the worst year of their lives [StudyFinds]. But when asked about their overall outlook, 78% described themselves as optimists. Americans weren’t a bunch of pessimists, they just hadn’t had a dose of optimism in a while, and needed it quickly. The question was how? The answer was in Applebee’s DNA: Music.

Applebee’s had a 40+ year history of reimagining songs and creating their own. In fact, we had been working with Applebee’s to license music for TV since 2017, turning the brand into the third largest licenser in the U.S. (behind Apple and Amazon). But to bring the good vibes back, we had to go beyond licensing. We had to find the intersection of Applebee’s, music and culture. To design for breakthrough, we sought cultural moments where America’s vibes were down, and used original music to bring them back up.

We used music to amplify Applebee’s good vibes and take the brand from the gutter to the GRAMMYs.

1. Sustained sales growth.

-Nine consecutive quarters of positive sales growth*

-Outperforming competition for 43 consecutive weeks**

-2021: Best sales performance in 41-year history**

2. Bringing good vibes back.

-Highest brand awareness ever***

-Doubled positive social sentiment***

-Total social reach (# of people that have seen/heard about Applebee's) +355%***

-Fancy Like: 13M+ organic YouTube views, exceeding two of YouTube’s past “most watched” ads

-“Taste My Face” garnered 3.4 billion impressions [PR agency]

3. Earning a role in music culture.

-11x more ‘song’ convo and 1.5x more 'music' convo on social vs. Chili's, Olive Garden, BWW & TGIF***

-Fancy Like reached #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100

-Fancy Like nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY

*Q1 2023 Earnings Report

**Sales Data, Q4 2020-Q4 2022

***Infegy, March 2021-January 2023