They get into Twitter fights they engage with one another and with customers the corporate monoliths are, absurdly, transformed into internet-savvy individuals.
Wendy’s and, particularly, Burger King are notorious for tweeting questionably food-related quips as well as more standard promotional info. Using the internet’s enthusiasm for and rapid circulation of the meme-worthy might be effective-where half-cooked attempts at artisanal flopped-at getting Applebee’s into the good graces of the youth. It is, in effect, “memey”-shareable, accessible (what is ONE DOLLAR these days?!), a little nihilistically stupid. This novelty has spawned photos, articles, and posts in Facebook groups on pop culture. To go to Applebee’s for a margarita is a humorous novelty-both because it is serving margaritas, and because it is Applebee’s. But the humor of the Dollarita™ can’t be lost on Applebee’s, either: the chain knows it isn’t usually considered a bar, and it knows millennials aren’t impressed with it as a restaurant. Like many a promo before it, the Dollarita™ capitalizes on the time-honored idea that if you get them in the door with one super-cheap item, they will buy more, and come to love you.
Cheap alcoholic beverages advertised on social media certainly sounds like a reboot of the “clear pendulum swing towards millennials.” It’s just a very different tactic than the open-fire grills that drained Applebee’s coffers without yielding the kind of foody cred they were hoping for.
While we certainly hope to extend our reach, we can’t alienate Boomers or Gen-Xers in the process.Īpparently, Applebee’s had “ given up on millennials.” This was a month before the announcement of the Dollarita™ promotion-so, maybe not so. In my perspective, this pursuit led to decisions that created confusion among core guests, as Applebee’s intentionally drifted from what I’ll call its ‘Middle America’ roots and its abundant value position. Over the past few years, the brand’s set out to reposition or reinvent Applebee’s as a modern bar and grill in overt pursuit of a more youthful and affluent demographic with a more independent or even sophisticated dining mindset, including a clear pendulum swing towards millennials. The company’s most recent attempt to appeal to the millennial market was described as follows by John Cywinski, the company’s brand president, in a call with investors: Applebee’s, aggressively advertising the Dollarita™ promotion through social media ( “So sick of applebees paid twit ads I reported one lol”), is making a bid for millennial attention that has little to do with the quality of their products-Applebee’s has tried that, and it didn’t work. High expectations on margarita quality are not the appeal here. People Magazine shared the story with the headline, “Applebee’s Bartender Claims Their $1 Margaritas Are Mostly Water.” Twitter doesn’t seem to care- in the words of user “‘This Dollarita tastes like shit’ First of all it costs a fucking dollar.”
#APPLE BEE DOLLAR MARGARITA SERIES#
On October 6th, a week into the promotion, the Instagram account shared a series of now-deleted Snapchat videos by an Applebee’s bartender: the Dollarita™, they reveal, is one part cheap tequila, one part margarita mix, and three parts tap water. Posted by Bitchy Waiter on Friday, October 6, 2017 Late night confession from an Applebee's bartender.
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