*On Monday, IHOP sparked curiosity and outrage among pancake lovers when the company announced that it was changing its name to “IHOb,” with the “b” denoting burgers.
The change is not permanent but rather is a move to promote its new burger line.
The newly dubbed IHOP is releasing seven Ultimate Steakburgers as part of its rebranding effort – all the while keeping its breakfast items on the menu, per USA Today.
The company has been offering burgers since its creation in 1958, but IHOP’s main motive for revamping the menu item is to attract a wider audience.
Scroll up to watch the video report above.
I am literally here right now!! they do look delicious ? pic.twitter.com/aEspnuzqfU
— Lidia S (@lidiaisabell) June 11, 2018
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“The big opportunity for the IHOb brand is to develop our lunch and dinner business,” said Chief Marketing Officer Brad Haley. “Burgers are the most consumed entree item for men, women and children in America,” he continued, adding “it made sense to start with burgers.”
At the start of last week, IHOP hinted at changing its name in a tweet, flipping the “P” to a “b.”
But some doubted the change would go through until IHOP stunned when the company both changed its Twitter handle and released signs of the new logo.
They weren’t playing. #ihop ➡ #ihob pic.twitter.com/ZTySiRM7DH
— Drew Malino (@DREWMALINO) June 7, 2018
“The whole goal of this effort was to convince people that we were just as serious about our burgers as we are about our pancakes,” Haley said. “Consequently, we needed to make a bold signal to disrupt people’s thinking about IHOP and make it IHOb.”
Though Haley is optimistic about the outcome of the rebranding effort, some are skeptical of how successful it will be.
“There are many other brands that are owning the burger space,” said Allen Adamson, a co-founder of marketing strategy firm Metaforce. “While strategically it makes sense to get people in (IHOP) after 11 o’clock in the morning, owning burgers is a non-starter for them. It’s just going to be a disconnect to get consumers to [believe IHOP] has the best burgers.”
Meanwhile, Wendy’s had this to say about its new competition:
And then there’s this…
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