After a number of years of declining relevance, Chili’s is child again.

The model, in partnership with its creative agency Mischief, used social listening and price-sensitive messaging to reverse a pandemic-induced slide in relevancy, chief advertising and marketing officer George Felix advised a crowd of entrepreneurs Wednesday at ADWEEK’s Brandweek occasion in Phoenix, Ariz.

“A lot of Chili’s recognition got here from its skill to leverage popular culture,” Felix mentioned. “We knew that we wanted some enjoyable moments that may actually stick in folks’s minds.”

And the technique has labored: In its most up-to-date earnings name, the restaurant reported a 15% year-over-year improve in gross sales and a 6% improve in fourth-quarter visitors.


The nostalgia play revisits one of the catchiest earworms in advertising.

Responding with social listening

Chili’s and Mischief centered their model advertising and marketing technique on a mix of planning campaigns and responding to social traits. 

For the latter, Chili’s took benefit of quite a lot of viral moments to reinsert its model into the cultural dialog. 

Final June, a TikTok video went viral exhibiting a bride who catered her wedding ceremony utilizing Chili’s takeout, and the model determined to lean into the feeling. It launched a promotion providing free catering to the primary three {couples} to get engaged in a Chili’s, which prompted a wave of proposals and a surge in natural engagement. 

Likewise, when Chili’s fried mozzarella sticks grew to become the middle of a pattern, the model and Mischief doubled down on the second. The restaurant created a brand new menu merchandise referred to as Nashville Sizzling Mozzarella Sticks that was solely promoted on TikTok. The fast response generated greater than 1 billion impressions and 50 million views on TikTok, in accordance with Felix.

In one other occasion, the model leaned right into a broader pattern that it had a proper to play in: the rise in recognition of espresso martinis. Mischief produced a spot featuring Scheana Shay and Katie Maloney from Vanderpump Guidelines selling Chili’s spin on the drink, which integrated tequila into the cocktail.