Over the summer one of the most talked about marketing campaigns was the IHOb campaign. The International House of Pancakes announced they were changing from IHOP to IHOb and later announced that the “b” stood for “burgers”. Shortly afterward they admitted it was all a publicity stunt to help build awareness of their line of burgers. This campaign has potential for a couple of class discussions. First, was it successful? Clearly they succeeded in getting people talking about their company but whether it drove sales is more ambiguous. This article from the USA Today suggests it did not drive a material increase in sales. Another article from geomarketing.com indicates that there was an increase in male traffic but the net result was negative due to lower traffic by females.
Another angle to discuss is the ethicality of the campaign. Is it ethical for a company to say “we’re changing our name” when they have no intention to do so? Does this create a bad precedent or does it cause other companies to push the boundaries of deceptive marketing? How far is too far when trying to gain publicity?
While many promotional strategies are ageless, to be most effective you need to know how to fine-tune your strategy for your target market. If you’re targeting a particular age-group of individuals, you may be able to capitalize on generational trends. Authenticity is becoming increasingly important to consumers, particularly to millennials and Gen Z. This article, “
The internet has given consumers incredible power when it comes to evaluating and purchasing products. No longer do you have to visit multiple stores to compare different products. Visiting websites of multiple manufacturers couldn’t be simpler but it’s not just access to manufacturer provided product information that has changed. Consumers have always been skeptical of promotional messages from sellers, rightly assuming those messages are biased. That skepticism has given rise to the popularity of “unbiased” consumer reviews. Go to Amazon or most other online retailer and you can quickly find product information provided by the manufacturer along with consumer reviews and ratings. This desire for consumer to consumer reviews has become the entire business model for companies such as Yelp.