Hi Welcome to ChilEASE – Chili’s Promotes Delivery in New Marketing Initiative

The popular catch-phrase, “Hi Welcome to Chili’s” takes on a deeper meaning in a fully integrated marketing campaign that demonstrates how every home can become a Chili’s restaurant with its new delivery offering.

With an emphasis on making the Chili’s delivery experience easy – the restaurant brand is adopting a new moniker – ChilEASE. And, from there a full 360 integrated campaign was born that includes partnerships with well-known television celebrities including The Jersey Shore, a sweepstakes that will make homes across America Chili’s all the way through -- to one Guests’ home becoming fully “Chili-fied” -- as well as loyalty and reward activations and more. The advertising, created in partnership with O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul, showcases the simplicity of its app and how with one tap customers can order to go.

“Getting ChilEASE is just so easy,” says Ellie Doty, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Chili’s with a smile. “At the end of the day, what we’re after is making sure the Chili’s experience is fun. But, we know with the reality of our Guests’ everyday schedules, getting the kids in the car to get to Chili’s can be a beat down sometimes. And, we don’t want you to not get Chili’s because of that. So, we made it even easier because frankly anywhere can be a Chili’s once you have the people you love and you’re having fun; we can easily get the grub to you.”

The advertising features consumers intoning ‘Welcome to Lindsay’s’ or ‘Welcome to Gigi’s’, and more, to show how Chili’s delivery makes it simple to turn any home, or frankly anywhere, into a fun Chili’s experience. Digital spots show a Chili’s welcome mat emblazoned with a customer’s name as a way to accentuate the way their home can be an extension of the restaurant.

“The line, ‘Hi, Welcome to Chili’s’ has become a cultural meme, and one that we totally own, so it made sense to leverage it in the advertising in a way that makes it even more personal to our customers,” explained Amy Rogers, group creative director at OKRP. “This new campaign also allows us to amplify the ‘together we Chili’s’ overarching brand platform, which speaks to the ways that Chili’s brings people together through its food and the dining experience.”

The full integrated campaign was created in partnership with OKRP (creative and social), 360i (media), Access(PR), Johnson & Sekin (in-store/merchandising), Ansira (CRM/email) and Credera (website). The full campaign elements will roll out beginning in October and run through December 2019.