Applebee’s embarked on its largest partnership in recent years, becoming the NFL’s official Grill + Bar Sponsor. When we thought about it, Applebee’s already operates a lot like an NFL franchise: its managers are the coaches, its staff the players, its regulars the fans, and its stadium is the restaurant. So, if we’re the latest NFL franchise to join the league, we thought we should behave exactly like one does—and that starts with some pre-season training.
We launched with a trailer for our Pre-Seasoning parody sports docu-series before embarking on a six-part episodic adventure, supplemented by retail films and social assets to create a robust franchise ecosystem.
While we’re still in the midst of the campaign, it has been a huge success so far. We were AdAge’s and Clio’s Editors Pick upon launching, achieving 2.2B+ impressions in the first week. Social mentions of Applebee’s increased by 39%, impressions grew by 84%, and positive brand sentiment rose by 15.1%. Most importantly, sales saw a 6% increase.
