Chili’s Grill & Bar, a division of Dallas-based Brinker International Inc., works to meet customers where they are.
George Felix, chief marketing officer for Chili’s, said his role “involves everything from our national advertising and media strategy through our culinary innovation, insights, as well as all of our digital channels, whether that be social media, CRM, loyalty, or our website.”
Felix was named CMO at Chili’s in 2022 and has led the brand’s value-oriented marketing that involves everything from the vocal group Boyz II Men to racing’s NASCAR.
Social-media channels are “critically important” to enhancing the Chili’s message, Felix said in an interview.
“One of the things that we’re always focused on is meeting our consumers where they are,” he said. “Social media has taken up a bigger chunk of people’s time. And so for us, we just see it as another place to make Chili’s relevant.”
Felix, who started his marketing career with the Old Spice brand at Procter & Gamble and brought that brand to a younger generation with the “man on a horse” series, started his restaurant marketing career with Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc.
“I worked there for six years, and that was my first experience working in the restaurant industry,” Felix recalled. “I got to work on the KFC U.S. business as the director of advertising there and really led the return of Colonel Sanders and repositioning the KFC brand with the colonel as the focal point there. And then I got to work on the KFC global business as well.” He wrapped up his last year and half with Yum as CMO at Pizza Hut.
Felix then moved into the technology industry, taking the role as CMO at the dating app Tinder.
He moved back into the restaurant industry at Chili’s in 2022 when Kevin Hochman took over as CEO at Brinker.
Chili’s returned to national advertising in 2023 after a three-year hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We want to be relevant in culture,” Felix said. “We want to tap into the things that people love about Chili’s. That's one of the fun parts about working at Chili’s is it’s a brand that people genuinely love and are rooting for. …. We brought the office ladies back to talk about our leadership and margaritas. We’ve brought in Boyz II Men back to put a new spin on our famous baby back ribs jingle.
The brand also showed up this year with a sponsored car at NASCAR and the Daytona 500.
“We’re trying to show up in unexpected places and just kind of get people talking about Chili’s and noticing the brand in a different way,” he said. “And the other thing that we're focused on is value. It’s definitely a hot topic right now and we think Chili's is really well positioned to talk about value because we have, what we think is industry leading value: a nearly half pound burger, fries, bottomless chips and salsa, bottomless drink at a full-service sit-down restaurant for $10.99.
“Given the realities of what's going on in the economy right now, that's kind of what we're committed to at Chili's,” Felix said.
Fragmentation of media has been a challenge for marketers in the past decade, Felix said.
“If you look at the last 10 years how people are spending their time and where their eyeballs are it's changed dramatically,” he said. “It’s continuing to evolve whether that be you know streaming services or social media and there are just so many different options now. … The channels change, but that consistent challenge for marketers is has been attention. … It’s not really just battling for attention amongst your direct competitors. It’s battling for brain space amongst all the other things that people have going on in their lives.”
Felix said he is excited about the amount of data available on consumers and how marketers can apply that to customer relationship management and loyalty programs.
“We’re really up leveling our game on our first-party data to get to a point where we have a better sense of who our guests are so that we can send more relevant and more compelling messaging to our most loyal guests,” he said.
Felix also plans to “keep taking swings at putting Chili’s in the cultural conversation,” he said.
“Some of the best marketing in the world’s happening in the restaurant industry,” Felix said. “It’s a fun place to be right now, and I find it to be a really exciting space to be a marketer in.”
Brinker International Inc., founded in 1975, has more than 1,600 restaurants in the United States and 29 other countries and two territories. It also owns the casual-dining Maggiano’s Little Italy and virtual It’s Just Wings brands.
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