Last week, we reported on how IHOP was stoking speculation via social media by teasing that it would change its name from “IHOP” to “IHOB,” without saying what the “B” would stand for.
Yesterday, the company provided the answer, saying that the “B” stood for “burgers,” and that the change was a temporary one that “celebrates the debut of the brand's new Ultimate Steakburgers, a line-up of seven mouth-watering, all-natural burgers.”
"Burgers are a quintessential, American menu item so it makes perfect sense that IHOP, one of the most iconic, all-American comfort-food brands in the world, would go over the top to create a delicious line-up of quality burgers that hit the spot any time of day," Chef Nevielle Panthaky, the company’s head of culinary, said in a prepared statement.
And Brad Haley, it chief marketing officer for IHOb restaurants, said, “We’ve pancaked pancakes for 60 years now so it's the perfect time to start burgerin' burgers, and we're kicking it off by flipping the 'p' in IHOP to a 'b' for burgers. And, when you try them, I think you'll agree with me that IHOb's new line of Ultimate Steakburgers are so good that I'd put them up against anyone's … just like our pancakes.”
Yesterday, the company provided the answer, saying that the “B” stood for “burgers,” and that the change was a temporary one that “celebrates the debut of the brand's new Ultimate Steakburgers, a line-up of seven mouth-watering, all-natural burgers.”
"Burgers are a quintessential, American menu item so it makes perfect sense that IHOP, one of the most iconic, all-American comfort-food brands in the world, would go over the top to create a delicious line-up of quality burgers that hit the spot any time of day," Chef Nevielle Panthaky, the company’s head of culinary, said in a prepared statement.
And Brad Haley, it chief marketing officer for IHOb restaurants, said, “We’ve pancaked pancakes for 60 years now so it's the perfect time to start burgerin' burgers, and we're kicking it off by flipping the 'p' in IHOP to a 'b' for burgers. And, when you try them, I think you'll agree with me that IHOb's new line of Ultimate Steakburgers are so good that I'd put them up against anyone's … just like our pancakes.”
- KC's View:
-
First of all, I’d like to point out to Haley that “burger” and “pancake” are not verbs. Using them as such actually hurts my eyes and ears.
Tom Stoppard, in “The Real Thing,” writes that if you are careful about your choice of words “you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.”
Though when I think about it, it occurs to me that based on my limited experience at IHOP, I’m not even sure that its pancakes are food … so why should they get words right?
I wouldn’t go to IHOP for pancakes. I sure as hell wouldn’t go there for burgers.
To me, this whole effort strikes me as a tease without a sufficient payoff. The bet here is that while the marketing folks probably thought this was brilliant, it’ll end up being a nothingburger with customers. (IHOP’s Twitter feed is pretty funny, especially if you enjoy people mocking a company for much ado about very little.)
