Brief:
- Restaurant chain IHOP teamed up with food-delivery app DoorDash to deliver a pizza-sized pancake in celebration of National Pizza Day on Feb. 9, the chain shared with Mobile Marketer. Customers in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York can order the $4.99 Pancizza while supplies last on Feb. 8-10.
- The seven-inch Pancizza comes in three flavors — original buttermilk, cupcake and bacon and cheddar — along with a variety of IHOP's syrups in a co-branded IHOP x DoorDash pizza box. First-time DoorDash users can enter the PANCIZZA code into the app for free delivery.
- IHOP produced a short video clip honoring classic pizza commercials of the past for the promotion. Plus, the breakfast chain will take over New York City's Bleecker Street Pizza on Feb. 9 for a pop-up shop that gives guests a free slice of exclusive Pancizza flavors. The activation, developed with agency Droga5, will also offer limited-edition t-shirts from the PancakeWear Collection.
Insight:
IHOP's latest campaign with DoorDash is designed to generate plenty of publicity on a day that's rarely associated with the restaurant chain's trademark pancakes: National Pizza Day. The occasion typically brings numerous promotions and discounts from pizza chains, and IHOP this year plans to piggyback on the buzz with the novelty of its Pancizza, further extending the campaign's reach with a shareable clip on social media.
The duo's marketing promotion is part of IHOP's efforts to adapt to changing consumer preferences for ordering food for delivery or takeout. The mobile-savvy millennial generation is even more likely to seek a positive digital experience in their dining preferences, according to research by Incisiv, BRP and Windstream Enterprise. More than half of millennials (53%) said their dining visits are directly influenced by a digital device, compared with 40% of diners overall. Restaurant chains like IHOP continue to ramp up their digital and mobile strategies to appeal to these changing preferences of key customers, who are likely already familiar with DoorDash. IHOP's parent company Dine Brands said the average check for online orders was 29% higher than for call-in orders. Digital restaurant orders are expected to triple in volume by 2020, according to a report from NPD Group.
IHOP has run several high-profile marketing stunts to spice up its profile and generate social media chatter, including last year's temporary name change to IHOb, the International House of Burgers, that promoted its new line of hamburgers. Data from Foursquare suggested the promotion didn't lead many customers to the brand's various locations, Adweek reported. However, IHOP contested Foursquare's findings, saying they didn't reflect what the chain saw in its restaurants. Last summer IHOP celebrated its 60th anniversary with a mobile-based "International Passport Challenge" that urged customers to try a new line of flavored pancakes.
