Why Applebee’s Is Investing in Social Video Stories Starring Professional Athletes

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle entered the NFL on a $27.1 million rookie deal in 2021, nearly $18 million of which went toward his signing bonus. 

He’s also 24, likes playing mini golf with his friends and eating a bunch of fries when the training schedule allows.

In a marketing landscape where data and analytics firm EDO says ads with celebrities perform 25% better than those without one, Waddle’s job tends to garner most of the attention. But while Omnicom agency The Marketing Arm notes that 64% of people polled in October believe consumers are more likely to buy a product when it is endorsed by a celebrity—a figure that rises to 70% among Gen Z—brands want their celebrity spokespeople to resonate with their regulars.

Earlier this year, when Dine Brands’ casual dining chain Applebee’s wanted to tout an all-you-can-eat wings, riblets and shrimp promotion, it approached digital media company Team Whistle for a solution. Team Whistle felt the promotion was a good fit for its Cheat Day series—which follows athletes while they take a break from training—and paired Applebee’s with Waddle after a day of mini golf with his friend and trainer.

The result was an episode that felt more like a mini documentary than an ad. As Applebee’s CMO Joel Yashinsky said, it made a well-compensated professional athlete feel more relatable to his customers, “most of them not in the NFL.”

“Jaylen was comfortable and taken care of, which is how we want all our guests to feel,”  Yashinsky said. “Viewers really got a glimpse into a day in the life of Jaylen, and his ‘cheat’ day didn’t end up looking that different from our cheat days.”

According to Wyzowl Research’s Video Marketing Trends report, more than 90% of consumers want to see more digital video from brands. The amount of online video watched each week has surged from 10.5 hours in 2018 to 19 hours last year, with 70% of marketers who don’t currently use video planning to do so in 2023.

In that crowded marketplace, where 66% of consumers told Sprout Social they pay the most attention to short-form video like those produced by Team Whistle, simply stamping a celebrity or athlete onto a brand’s narrative isn’t nearly as effective as incorporating them into the story they’re telling the customer.

“There’s so much uncertainty in the economy. There’s a lot of negativity, and a lot of media brands feed off of controversy and negativity and almost have an obligation to tell that news story,” said Dustin Fleischman, Team Whistle’s evp of revenue and brand strategy. “We’re a place that people come to just to feel better that you actually are like your favorite celebrity. They’re not more than [you] and we’re not showing celebrities like they just got arrested. We’re showing the other side that you’re not seeing, and brands gravitate towards that because they gravitate towards positivity.”

Coming back for seconds

Applebee’s Yashinsky noted that Team Whistle’s access to athletes was a draw for his brand, but Waddle’s teenage memories of Applebee’s left an impression. Meanwhile, Team Whistle was able to cull data to personalize the Cheat Day segment’s reach and target strong local markets—particularly important for a brand that hangs local customers’ photos, jerseys and other mementos on its walls.

That’s encouraged Applebee’s to produce even more content with athletes, signing a name, image and likeness deal with Wake Forest basketball star Tyree Appleby and putting together a campaign around the Appleby-Applebee’s homonym. It also had Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow name dropping the restaurant to his fellow offensive linemen during the Lions’ season of HBO’s Hard Knocks.

In some cases, these athlete pairings are actually encouraging brands to come back to Team Whistle. During last year’s World Cup in Qatar, J.M. Smucker Company wanted to feature its pet treat brand Pup-Peroni in Team Whistle’s series Meet the Pets. Launched during the pandemic, the short- and mid-length clips follow athletes and their pets during a normal day. For the World Cup, Team Whistle brought in U.S. Men’s National Team defender Walker Zimmerman and his Bernedoodle (Bernese mountain dog/poodle) Bear to capitalize on the event without springing for broadcast airtime.

Real brands, real people

Meanwhile, Zimmerman didn’t look like an athlete in a dog treat ad: just a soccer player handing his dog some treats.

“Based on positive brand favorability in year one, Pup-Peroni and TW knew the TW audience loved seeing the natural friendship between talent and their pet,” said Heather Smith, senior manager of content and culture at J.M. Smucker. “Pup-Peroni was seamlessly and authentically integrated throughout the partnership.”

That brought Smucker back for a second year, sponsoring more Meet the Pets episodes during the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl. Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson, his boxer Lilo and his finaceé Mikala Brown’s Australian sheep dog Indie share screen time and snacks in one installment, while Cleveland Browns running back Myles Garrett and his bilingual, Dragonball-inspired German Shepherd Gohan go through tricks in both Czech and English.

“We want to create content to see people as real people, celebrities as real people, and that everyone has multiple interests and passions—whether it’s food, enjoying your favorite activity, having a pet or having a relationship,” Team Whistle’s Fleischman said. “It’s about showing all sides of people.”