Waffle HouseMake Waffle House’s rough-around-the-edges reputation feel more appealing to newcomers without sanitizing it.
The mission
Where we were coming from
Waffle House is the heart and soul of the southern experience. If you’ve lived here, you should have a core Waffle House memory, and if not, people will look at you crazy and take you to the nearest location immediately.
The method to our madness
We scoured MRI Simmons to understand the demographics and psychographics that frequent Waffle House.
We created a survey to get a sense of people’s eating out habits as well as their Waffle House perceptions and experiences.
We deep dove into Waffle House’s online presence through TikToks and Reddit forums.
And of course, we had to go to Waffle House to experience it for ourselves. We walked in at 10pm on a Wednesday and still walked out with a story to tell.
The experience
To the loyalist
“Waffle House is the world’s strongest soldier and it will be there for you at any time on any day.”
A Texan
To the outsider
“I’ve only been once, but I don’t remember the food being anything extraordinary. That, and a lot of people talk about Waffle House kind of having airport energy (i.e., anything goes energy), which I would agree with.”
A Californian
So, what’s the hold up?
From the outside, Waffle House is perceived as the wild, wild west. It seems like an overstimulating environment filled with chaos and fighting which can keep new customers from experiencing it for themselves.
And, basically…
Whether positive or negative, Waffle House sets the scene for stories worth telling.
All the fights, the chaos, the overstimulation, is actually just another plot point you could be adding to your memoir.
The Finesse
We play on the fear of missing out and make people feel like “You had to be there” creating a multi-phase campaign for those adventurous spirits who live in the moment and don’t mind a lil chaos.
The Follow-through
Phase 1: Mixing the batter
Build anticipation and get Waffle House in front of people with teaser social posts and “Yellow Table Talks,” the Waffle House version of the Jada Pinkett Smith’s social media show.
Phase 2: Let it cook
An in-store activation where people can share their favorite Waffle House stories.
Phase 3: Savor it
A follow-up series of social posts sharing the stories collected and continue motivating people to go experience Waffle House themselves and use #YouHadToBeThere
^ that’s us!
Alyssa’s Reflection Corner
Waffle House is THE spot. Words cannot express how special this place is to me. I’m talking I was ready to bust a mission from Portland, OR to Arizona once I finally got a car, JUST to experience a Waffle House again. And if we’re debating pancakes or waffles, I will say waffles solely because of Waffle House. It is my holy place, my hangover cure, my everything. That one-of-a-kind feeling only WaHo could provide was something I needed to portray to the masses.
Shoutout to the team
ST: Quentin Smith
ST: Ann Ganao
ST: Casey Hall