Rallying Brand Love to Create Consumer Support for Red Lobster Amidst Chapter 11 Filing

Challenge: Make consumers aware that Red Lobster was still open for business after the restaurant company filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Approach:

• Designed a social-first strategy that leveraged AI-powered insights and culture-tapping to turn brand love into a wave of support, reshaping the narrative around Red Lobster’s future
• Penned an open “Letter to Guests” that was informative and transparent, and was shared on social explaining what Chapter 11 means, and ended with a CTA to support the brand through the turnaround
• Jumped in on real-time reaction from Red Lobster superfan Flavor Flav and engaged him to help launch the Crabfest event
• Collaborated with Flavor Flav to create his signature meal, available to guests as a “secret menu” offering

Impact:

• Over 1M engagements on the letter on social (340K engagements on the letter in less than 24 hours); Organic social engagement rate of 8.22%
• Secured an exclusive with Today.com, announcing Red Lobster took Flavor Flav up on his offer, in turn stemming the tide of negative news
• Generated 647 total earned placements spanning media verticals, with outlets including People, CBS Mornings, LiveNow FOX, Billboard, Parade