IHOP Decides To Rename To IHOb, Is Trolling You
Update, June 11, 9:20 AM: IHOb Finally Announces Rebrand. It's Burgers
As promised, The International House of Pancakes revealed what the "b" stands for in their new rebrand. It's burgers.
Previously
Yesterday, the Twitter account for the International House of Pancakes, the full-service breakfast chain everyone knows and loves, posted an announcement for an upcoming change in the restaurant's branding.
The International House of… b? IHOb? Eye-hob? It's an alarming development for a brand name that is decidedly fine. If you'll indulge a moment of Brand Genius here: IHOP is cheery and fun. The "HOP" suggests positive, active movement, even literal levity. And who doesn't love pancakes? "HOb" suggests the exact opposite in terms of mobility, and brings to mind images of halflings — who, the most famous of which, was saddled with the unfair burden of bearing the One Ring. Anyway!
No doubt you will be scratching your head, both at this now-unwieldy name that rolls out of your mouth like an Original Full Stack Buttermilk Pancakes sits in your stomach, and what the "b" stands for. To this I say: don't.
Yes, I am certain that in less than a week's time the IHOP Twitter account will explain everything. I am not certain what the "b" will stand for, but I am certain that IHOP will always be IHOP.
This IHOb "rebranding" is what those in the business call a "marketing stunt." This is an attempt to generate "buzz" and "engagement" around a brand. Judging by the fact that this tweet has almost as many replies as it does likes — known as a ratio, a signal that something is bad and/or controversial, amongst those who spend far too much time on Twitter — you could argue that IHOP has succeeded.
That they have decided to wait until June 11 to reveal the full rebranding is likely not due to the fact that they haven't decided what the "b" in "IHOb" will stand for, but rather is a calculated attempt to stretch this announcement into what is most definitely referred to in some digital strategy deck as a "weeklong brand engagement campaign."
Brands may enjoy deceiving you, but the numbers to not. IHOP's parent company, Dine Brands, is doing just fine. As recently as February, a Bloomberg report on the company had nothing by sunny projections. "And breakfast, IHOP's specialty, was the only daypart in the restaurant industry to see traffic growth in 2017, according to market research firm NPD Group," reported Bloomberg's Sarah Halzack. What's more, just this past month, Dine CEO Stephen Joyce was bragging to Business Insider that his company is working up quite an appetite to add another chain restaurant to their plate.
IHOP is thriving. Breakfast is the only meal that full-service restaurants are expanding in. There's no need to rename, and thus reposition the International House of Pancakes as something other than that.
There is only one logical explanation. IHOP wants you to get mad online. It's good for them. This very blog post is complicit in the ruse. As such, here's my best guess for what the "b" stands for. In that Bloomberg report, Halzack points out an important facet of recent IHOP branding, "Both chains are also marketing themselves to customers as a value play," she writes. "At IHOP, for example, executives decided to mention price in the commercials for their recent All You Can Eat pancakes promotion."
It's "bargains." The International House of Bargains. Thanks.
