Applebee’s, the largest casual-dining restaurant (CDR) chain in the United States, is the stuff of meme legend, but not in a good way – it’s roasted on social media for being mediocre, ubiquitous and a cultural relic of early 2000s Americana. When COVID-19 hit, many believed it could be the final nail in the coffin for Applebee’s. People were placing their bets that the restaurant wouldn’t make it through the year 2021.

With all of these compounding factors, Applebee’s needed to do something bold and meaningful to build brand love and cultural relevance. Applebee’s objective was to create a powerful reason to motivate Americans to believe in and love it again.

The vibe in America was as bleak as the one around Applebee’s. A OnePoll survey revealed half of Americans felt 2021 was the worst year of their lives. So, we sought a way to get people feeling good and loving Applebee's again.

We dug through the internet to find some piece of authentic brand positivity. Then, we found Walker Hayes and his song, “Fancy Like”: an ode to his date night tradition at Applebee’s. It was an earworm that perfectly summed up the feel-good food and moments America was craving.

Our idea: become the source of much-needed good vibes for the country by amplifying the good vibes of “Fancy Like.” The only problem? Walker was an unknown artist, and his song was stuck in obscurity. We had to bring it to the light and make Walker Hayes and his ode to Applebee’s famous, to change the perception around the brand.

Everything Applebee’s does is meant to resonate broadly with Americans everywhere craving good food and vibes. In 2021, we found those vibes on TikTok. Time spent on the app helped escape ongoing pandemic uncertainty, particularly in the form of music. 75% of TikTok users – about 600M people – say they discover new artists through TikTok.

It was the perfect place to initiate Walker’s rise to fame. Plus, launching on social media gave us the opportunity to spread positivity where people hated us the most. Ultimately, our strategy was to act more like a record label, than a restaurant, to turn Walker into a full-fledged celebrity and blow up “Fancy Like” on and beyond TikTok. We tapped our employees to hype the song’s TikTok dance. Then we showcased the country’s best moves in our TV ads, plus featured Walker (and his forever date, wife Laney) on social, radio and in-restaurant.

Within four weeks, we blew up Fancy Like on TikTok by turning employees into semi-influencers. Then we implemented a 360° media campaign to bring it to the masses, rewarding those who danced by showcasing them in our TV ads and putting them everywhere. We even put the song on TV’s biggest night, Sunday Night Football, to get heard by as many ears as possible. Walker’s song (and Applebee’s) took over radio, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Inspired by the lyrics (“Get that Bourbon Street Steak with the Oreo Shake!), we even put our Oreo Shake back on the menu.

The final piece of acting like a record label was to promote Walker Hayes himself. He spoke with targeted press and broadcast aimed at driving traffic to the restaurant. This coordinated effort ensured that our obscure artist and song would achieve total fame.

We made “Fancy Like Applebee’s” the hashtag of summer 2021: with 900,000 TikToks and 703.6M+ #FancyLike Views on TikTok. It turned into a cultural phenomenon bringing celebrities like Amy Adams and Shaq together in celebration of Applebee’s. The convo around Applebee’s blew up in a good way, with a 355% increase in reach across social. Most importantly, we nearly doubled positive social sentiment. Sales showed it: Applebee’s outperformed the category and had its best year ever.

The same was true for Walker: after our TV ran, his song hit its highest number of streams and sales in a single week. “Fancy Like” even scored a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. With a 165% lift in mentions of him on social media and a 59% lift in Walker’s popularity based on daily average search interest, we brought him out of obscurity and into limelight.