IHOP

Scary Face Pancakes Campaign

Role: Creative Direction & Digital Strategy Lead
Core Domain: Seasonal Campaign Strategy, Digital Ecosystems, Family Engagement, Drive-to-Store Activation
User Journey Scope: Full Funnel (Awareness → Engagement → Drive-to-Store & In-Restaurant Activation)

Executive Summary

I directed the digital creative strategy and end-to-end execution for IHOP’s annual October signature event, Scary Face Pancakes—a seasonal tradition inviting kids 12 and under to decorate their own pancakes in-restaurant. The strategic objective was to build massive nationwide awareness, drive urgency throughout the month, and convert digital engagement into physical restaurant visits and family dining traffic.

By executing a complete web homepage redesign, developing a dedicated event hub, deploying dynamic urgency messaging, crafting downloadable activity assets, and executing location-gated social filters and rich media publisher placements, the campaign built high-value engagement for families while directly motivating visits to local IHOP locations.

Technical & Professional Scope

Categorization	Details & Competencies
Role & Focus	Creative Direction & Digital Strategy (Digital & Social Campaigns, Family-Centric Engagement)
Domain Scope	Seasonal Events, Web Ecosystem Overhauls, Social Activation, Drive-to-Store Navigation
Cross-Functional Stakeholders	Marketing Strategy, Web Development, Paid Media, Social Content Teams
UX/UI & Production Workflow	Discovery, Concept Development, Web Redesign & Event Page Strategy, Video & Asset Production
Optimization & Mechanics	Dynamic Month-Long Urgency Messaging, In-Restaurant Geo-Gating, Downloadable Engagement Assets, Upsell Strategy
Lifecycle Stages	Awareness (Rich Media, Facebook Video, Email) → Engagement (Hub Page, Activity Downloads) → Conversion (In-Store Visits & Geo-Filters)

Key Initiatives & Strategic Impact

A. Digital Hub & Dynamic Web Ecosystem

Complete Homepage Redesign & Upsell Focus: Redesigned the entire homepage experience for October to anchor the Scary Face Pancake event, using dynamic messaging that built increasing urgency as Halloween approached. The redesign was strategically structured to showcase and drive sales for secondary Limited Time Offer (LTO) food items alongside the core pancake event.
Dedicated Event Landing Page: Created a comprehensive campaign hub providing event details, an integrated IHOP store locator, promotional video content, and downloadable family activities (pumpkin stencils/cutouts and a printable coloring book).
Targeted Email Series: Designed event-driven email campaigns deployed across IHOP’s subscriber base, driving early awareness and reminding families of the October promotional event.

In-Restaurant Snapchat Filters: Developed custom Scary Face Pancake Snapchat Filters that unlocked exclusively inside IHOP locations, incentivizing in-restaurant visits and user-generated social sharing.
Social Video & Engagement Assets: Produced promotional video content optimized for Facebook, alongside native animated GIFs tailored for Twitter engagement.

C. Contextual Media & Drive-to-Store Mechanics

Rich Media Ad Campaign: Deployed high-impact rich media banner ads across high-profile digital publishers to capture broad audience attention and direct parents to the event landing page.
Waze Location-Based Ads: Partnered with Waze to display targeted navigation ads to nearby drivers, capturing mealtime intent and guiding families directly to their nearest IHOP restaurant.

Workflows & Governance

Strategic Campaign Alignment: Translated annual promotional goals into a cohesive digital creative strategy designed to engage parents and children alike while driving secondary menu item sales.
Web Ecosystem Development: Led the visual design and UX structure for the complete homepage redesign and event hub, ensuring smooth integration with the core store locator tool.
Asset & Content Production: Oversaw production across multi-platform creative formats—including video, social GIFs, downloadable printables (coloring books/cutouts), and rich media banners.
Media & Engineering Hand-Offs: Partnered with web developers and paid media teams to execute dynamic content swaps, rich media deployments, and in-restaurant Snapchat geo-fencing.
Performance & Campaign Monitoring: Evaluated digital interaction metrics and traffic drivers throughout October to ensure optimal engagement leading up to the Halloween event peak.