Flippin’ pancakes

At the beginning of June, IHOP (the International House of Pancakes) teased the public stating that it was changing its name to IHOb, with a countdown clock on its home page, counting down the days and minutes until the “big” announcement.

What does the ‘b’ stand for” Bacon? Breakfast? Bananas?

Nope. IHOP announced on June 11, that the ‘b’ was for burgers. The impetus to rename the brand was to promote the addition of seven hamburgers to their menu.

Social media was merciless, mocking IHOP’s new name and revised logo, flipping the ‘p’ to a ‘b’. It was almost immediately pointed out the unmistakable resemblance to the OB logo, a feminine hygiene brand.

Some fast food chains also got into the act, with Burger King mocking IHOP by offering a revised version of their logo, changed to read Pancake King.

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The campaign of course includes the requisite television commercials. This is not, um, groundbreaking advertising.

The salient issue here is the cavalier attitude IHOP (and the ad agency that created this work) has towards its brand. Its demonstrated lack of self-respect, leaves one to wonder what else are they willing to set aside for a short-term gain? Instead of “All-Natural, 100% USDA Choice Black Angus Beef”, will filler be added to their burgers to lower cost? Who would know?

A key function of brands is to establish trust, establishing in the minds of their stakeholders certain expectations, which of course, then have to be met. With this stunt, IHOP is demonstrating little regard to the trust of its customers.

They could have, of course, really rebranded and changed their name to signal that in fact a major change had been made, that the brand was now headed in a different (and better) direction. But of course, that’s not what IHOP has done.

Well maybe IHOP is IHOB, as in the International House of Boobs. Boobs, as in idiots.

ihop.com