Denny?s is heating up awareness for its new buttermilk pancakes with custom Snapchat filters, Facebook Live events and a mobile-optimized interactive simulator that lets consumers practice informing loved ones their pancakes come second to the brand's.

The diner chain has created a new recipe for one of the staple menu items in all-day breakfast culture, pancakes. To promote the new line of short stacks, Denny?s is inviting fans to interact with its social and digital channels by leveraging Snapchat filters and taking advantage of the Pancake Rejection Simulator, an interactive application that highlights the cachet of the brand?s pancakes, available on its mobile-optimized site.

?Social media is a powerful marketing channel for Denny?s with a captive audience of over 1.9 million, so it?s important to have custom content that not only informs our followers about our new buttermilk pancakes, but also mobilizes them to visit Denny?s to try them for themselves,? said Erik Jensen, senior director of brand engagement at Denny?s.

?Denny?s social channels also provide the quickest and most personal channel to engage with our fans, so for us it?s the most effective manner in which to promote the campaign.?

Better than homemade
Denny?s new buttermilk pancakes ? which feature fresh buttermilk, real eggs and a dash of vanilla ? were created with a recipe designed to rival loved ones? homemade concoctions.

The revamped dish has been added to Denny?s restaurant menus, alongside four limited-edition signature builds, the Sticky Bun Pancake Breakfast, Peanut Butter Cup Pancake Breakfast, Strawberries and Cream Pancake Breakfast and Double Berry Banana Pancake Breakfast.

Denny?s is celebrating the pancake rollout by bringing the excitement to its social and digital channels. The restaurant chain launched custom pancake Snapchat geofilters on Monday, which are currently available in all of its locations.

Each geofilter will be available for a one- to two-week period, as Denny?s has five different filters that will be rolled out through October 10. The current geofilter features an image of a stack of buttermilk pancakes with the catchphrase, ?Anything can be solved with a stack of pancakes.?

Denny?s geofilters can be added to a user?s Snap or Stories, or saved within Memories, the photo-sharing application?s newest feature.

The social media marketing push will be complemented with Facebook Live events as well as YouTube videos. Additionally, the diner brand?s animated Web series, ?The Grand Slams,? will introduce several new episodes starring the newly improved Pancake character.

Episodes can be viewed on thegrandslams.com. The site also displays shareable GIFs starring The Grand Slam characters.

Pancake rejection strategies
Denny?s is extending the pancake frenzy by driving mobile users to its fully responsive site, where they will encounter a Pancake Rejection Simulator. The interactive application enables consumers to practice informing loved ones that their pancakes are now second best to those of Denny?s.

Users can press the ?Play Now!? button to open the Simulator on their desktops or smartphones. The activation begins with a greeting from host Todd, who invites site visitors to click on a thumbnail bearing the name of a family member to begin the rejection strategy process.

Choices include, ?Your Mom,? ?Your Dad,? ?Your Grandma? and ?Your Wife,? among others.

Once a family member has been chosen, the Simulator will showcase a short clip featuring Todd dressed as that loved one. Todd demonstrates how the conversation may go when an individual brings home a stack of buttermilk pancakes instead of eating homemade pancakes provided by the family member.

After watching the videos, consumers may be inspired to browse Denny?s new pancake menu.

The pancake-centric social and mobile activations display the diner chain?s dedication to reaching target audiences on their most visited channels.

Denny?s also recently bolstered its visibility across several sites and mobile apps, successfully reaching on-the-go consumers and urging them to visit a nearby restaurant (see story).

?On average, about 80 percent of our Dennys.com users are utilizing mobile devices when visiting our site,? Mr. Jensen said. ?In response to these findings, Denny?s launched a new, fully responsive site last year which has helped create an optimal user experience.

?To ensure the best possible Pancake Rejection Simulator experience for our users, it was very important that the Simulator was optimized for mobile much like anything we launch on our site, and so that our guests could access our new ?cakes on the go.?