Applebee’s MENA
From the red to the top.
In five years, without a single gimmick.
The Applebee’s MENA marketing programme began in 2014, when the brand was losing relevance. The P&L was in the red, new Instagram-friendly food concepts were taking casual dining share, and the brand had no answer. The approach was a ground-up rebuild of the brand, not a campaign refresh.
Time went into the restaurant floor during service, new menu concepts developed with the kitchen, all creative rebuilt from scratch and campaigns run with the discipline of a performance marketer. Concepts that did not convert were cut. Concepts that worked were scaled.
ContextHistorical portfolio work from Tarek Jouda’s career. Shown as experience, not as a Donalep client engagement.
Figures as published in the original case study.
Campaign videos
Campaign content and social media
The rebuild that changed the brand.
By the 2018 Applebee’s global convention in Miami, MENA was the top-performing region in the brand’s history. US headquarters stopped asking for approvals and said: keep going.
Over five years, five new high-performing stores opened across the region, the P&L moved from consistent loss to sustained profit on top and bottom line, and original concepts such as Crazy Salad Shakers, Mason Jars, Be the Chef, The Barrel and Melt’n Scoop became regional staples.
Campaigns and concepts built.
- Crazy Salad Shakers, a regional social media hit
- Mason Jars, a signature concept adopted brand-wide
- Be the Chef, a guest participation campaign
- The Barrel, a sharing occasion builder
- Melt’n Scoop, a dessert innovation
- Social media strategy and content production
- 5 new store openings with brand-aligned creative
- #1 global region at the 2018 Miami convention