Burger King, Wendy’s and others are poking fun at IHOP’s name change—And it’s hilarious
People love their pancakes!
So, when IHOP (International House of Pancake) first announced plans to change its name to IHOB (International House of Burgers), there were some pretty strong reactions and quite a bit of backlash.
Initially, the fact that IHOP was changing its name seemed like the worst re-branding decision ever, but on June 11, the company announced that the change would only be temporary.
And given the fact that it got everyone talking — it’s starting to seem more like a clever marketing ploy.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/Oz92LNGKKz
— IHOP (@IHOP) June 7, 2018
The company’s name change was meant to showcase the fact that IHOP cooks up much more than just pancakes.
“We are definitely going to be IHOP,” Darren Rebelez, president of the restaurant chain, told CNN after the big reveal. “But we want to convey that we are taking our burgers as seriously as our pancakes.”
And in case you were wondering — you can most definitely still order a stack of piping hot pancakes from the restaurant — but the name change may just entice you to give one of their burgers a try, instead. At least, that’s what IHOP — pardon me, IHOB — is banking on!
With the news of the name change, other restaurants (who were perhaps a little jealous they didn’t think of this stunt first) couldn’t help but poke fun at the establishment for causing such a ruckus.
Wendy’s didn’t seem to be too threatened by the fact that IHOB is putting emphasis on its burgers:
“Not really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard,” the fast-food joint — and noted social media burn expert — tweeted. Ouch!
Not really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard.
— Wendy's (@Wendys) June 11, 2018
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A&W was inspired by IHOP’s name change and decided to make a change of its own: flipping its iconic logo upside down to something possibly resembling V&M:
Inspired by the International House of Burgers announcement, we are also changing our name (Please do not ask what it means — we don’t know either.) pic.twitter.com/0HPQtQirHn
— A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) June 11, 2018
Steak ‘n Shake took it upon itself to remind everyone it’s been in the burger business for a long time:
.@IHOb A replica by definition cannot be as good as the original. The original #Steakburger was created by Steak ‘n Shake in 1934.
— Steak 'n Shake (@SteaknShake) June 11, 2018
And while Whataburger considered a name change — it couldn’t commit:
As much as we love our pancakes, we'd never change our name to Whatapancake
— Whataburger® (@Whataburger) June 11, 2018
Before the big reveal, banana titan Chiquita had a different idea of what the “B” should stand for:
🍌 pancakes, 🍌 syrup, 🍌 French toast, 🍌 crepes…We LOVE where you’re going with this @IHOP 🎉😉 #InternationalHouseofBananas #IHOB pic.twitter.com/Pd8rLEXtuP
— Chiquita (@Chiquita) June 7, 2018
Burger King joined in on the re-branding fun and changed its name to Pancake King on Twitter:
Burger King changed their twitter name to Pancake King!! I’m done!! 😂😂😂 @FOXLA #IHOB pic.twitter.com/EetAWHEzap
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 11, 2018
Even Netflix poked fun at IHOB:
“brb changing my name to Netflib,” the streaming service tweeted.
brb changing my name to Netflib
— Netflix (@netflix) June 11, 2018
Seems like these brands found a way to get in on the action in the most hilarious way. Which response was your favorite?