Applebee’s is the largest casual-dining restaurant in the United States, with ~1,599 locations. In fact, almost 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of an Applebee’s location. It was one of the first and fastest growing restaurant chains, known for serving up classic American comfort food.

A staple of American dining for over 40 years, Applebee’s has played wingman to countless birthday parties, happy hours, pre-games, post-games and dates. In fact, as the largest casual dining restaurant, arguably more dates happen at Applebee’s. But there was a situation at hand: after two years of covid isolation, Gen Z were out of practice with their dating game. They were craving to date, but needed help to get back in the saddle. And if Applebee’s could provide that help, it’d benefit the business with more Gen Z diners. Our objective: motivate Gen Zers to consider date night at Applebee’s.

As America’s largest date night destination, Applebee’s needed to step in to play wingman, and thought of a spicy way to help break the ice and get people kissing again.

Our idea: instigate Gen Z make-outs by combining the two most critical ingredients of a date at Applebee’s… wings and kisses.

How? By partnering with beauty brand Winky Lux to develop Saucy Gloss – Applebee’s wing sauce-inspired lip glosses – designed to make people’s kisses craveable. To launch the glosses and get singles in the mood, we created a custom makeout jam and the first-ever “date-able” music video: “Taste My Face.” Then we dropped the video on Gen Z’s number one platform, and the only platform where music, makeup and dating collide: TikTok.

While restaurants were competing to bring guests back with deals and discounts, Applebee’s aimed to connect with Gen Z – a new target for the brand – by providing a solution to an issue stemming from the pandemic - Fear of Dating Again.

According to sources like Mashable, consumers struggling with post-pandemic dating anxiety were “not alone,” as many were experiencing a “fear of socializing” after having not done so for so long. Dating was “hard enough for many before the pandemic,” but after years of many people being “out of practice,” the thought of throwing themselves back in “felt overwhelming.”

Our insight: the post-pandemic dating scene was like an awkward middle school dance – Gen Z were eager to be close, but didn’t know how to act after two years of social isolation.

Our strategy: step in as America’s wingman to instigate more Gen Z dates and kisses.

We created a custom song to set the soundtrack for summer makeouts, along with custom wing-sauce-flavored lipglosses to make kisses craveable. We dropped both in the first-ever “dateable” music video on the only platform where music, makeup and dating collide: TikTok.

The launch was social first, with the objective of meeting our existing and prospective audiences (Gen Z, Beauty Interest) at the crossroads (TikTok) of music, beauty and food. Then we took Saucy Gloss beyond TikTok to make it a full 360 social campaign with tease, launch and sustain content spread out across all social platforms (YouTube, FB, IG, TW, TikTok).

Our main objective was to create brand buzz and we ensured everyone who is anyone within the Gen Z beauty zeitgeist got their hands on our product to spread the word. Custom PR Mailers were sent to surprise and delight celebrities, influencers and media outlets who ultimately posted unpaid.

We created a cultural moment that turned Gen Z’s fear of dating into true love for the brand. The internet went wild: reaching over 3.4 billion impressions across Gen Z’s top publications. Saucy Gloss was even featured in the NBC New Year Special Toast of 2022 and highlighted the buzziest trends of 2022. The “Taste My Face” video took over TikTok with 18.4M views and over 300 organic user generated video creations on the hashtag #tastemyface, as influencers jumped on the sound to make saucy content.

Ultimately, we got the brand all over Gen Z’s lips – literally & figuratively. Winky Lux sold 569% more Saucy Glosses per day than average, and we doubled Gen Z’s brand love for Applebee’s. And it wasn’t just lip service: more dates started to happen at Applebee’s, as the number of tickets with 2 entrees increased.