This story is the third in a series exploring how brands craft standout social media strategies. If you’d like to chat about how your brand is approaching social, Katie Hicks wants to hear about it. Reach out to her at [email protected].

“Hi, welcome to Chili’s” is more than just a Vine reference. It’s also the greeting that an increasing number of people might hear as the chain restaurant draws record numbers.

Brinker International, which owns the fast-casual chains Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy, recently reported better-than-expected earnings, bolstered by a 24% increase in sales at Chili’s in the quarter. For 17 consecutive quarters, Chili’s has defied the odds, finding a way to draw customers in at a time when many sit-down chain restaurants are struggling to compete.

The secret, at least on the social side, just might be memes—combined with a few deals here and there. According to Brinker International’s earnings report, Chili’s latest sales growth is a direct result of advertising highlighting the brand’s “industry-leading value” and “[encouraging] guest trial.”

CMO George Felix, who joined Chili’s three years ago, credits much of the brand’s recent success to being very online.

“In the last year to year and a half, we’ve really seen social media being a real driver of our business, and to tangible traffic into our restaurants and sales,” Felix told Marketing Brew.

We spoke with Felix about how the brand is balancing fun and deal-driven content, and drawing in guests of all ages as a result.

Continue reading here.—KH

Dave Mead, chief marketing officer and co-founder of the Austin, Texas-based sparkling mineral water brand Rambler, thought he had landed on the perfect social video idea.

The plan was to outfit an old Jeep with the water brand’s logo and current tagline (“Chug Life”) and send it soaring off of a cliff in Glacier View, Alaska, as part of an annual Fourth of July car launch, recording the whole thing for social media. The hope was to make something entertaining enough to gain enough attention online and grow the brand’s social following while boosting brand awareness as Rambler moves into more markets nationally.

Leading up to the event, Mead said, he was feeling nervous about what might go wrong.

“I had butterflies because we only get one chance,” Mead told Marketing Brew. “What if there’s a clog in the fuel line? What if it dies and it just coasts over that thing and then just rolls down and is anticlimactic? Everybody launching a car there has the same dream and the same vision of launching their car farther [than] anybody.”

The Jeep didn’t end up going farther than anyone else’s car that day, and it didn’t end up soaring over the cliff at all. Instead, the car veered left and drove straight into two trees, taking them down—and, with them, Rambler’s carefully laid social content plans.

“I just thought, ‘I cannot believe we just spent months planning and preparing and spent all this money getting up here, and I have no car launch,’” Mead said.

Instead of chucking the footage altogether, Rambler’s marketing team ended up releasing the failed car-launch video. To do so, Rambler partnered with a viral fail video page, Send It, which has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram, to spin the brand’s marketing failure into the social moment Mead wanted.

Read more here.—KM

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Olga Denysuik is brand marketing manager at Samsung. She has spent more than 15 years working in marketing and communications, working for agencies like WPP’s MediaCom, Havas, and Dentsu and on accounts for brands like Dior, Louis Vuitton, LVMH, and Stellantis.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I studied classical piano years back and completed the full program in just five years instead of the usual seven. It was an intense and rewarding experience that taught me the discipline of practice, the power of timing, and how to tell a story without words—all of which I now apply to brand strategy. Great brands, like great music, balance structure with emotion to make a lasting impact.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I’m most optimistic about the evolution of influencer marketing into brand cocreation. The strongest brands today aren’t just hiring creators—they’re building long-term relationships that humanize their message and drive relevance. Influence is no longer a channel; it’s a trust-building system.

I’m least optimistic about trend-hopping without brand fit. When brands jump only on viral moments with no strategic tie-in, they might get attention—but rarely get results. Focus builds equity. Distraction burns it.

Continue reading here.

Real jobs, shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Fanta teamed up with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse to put horror movie characters like Chucky and Michael Myers on its soda cans.
• Jersey Mike’s tapped Eli Manning for its NFL campaign, pairing him with longtime spokesperson Danny DeVito.
• Minecraft is working with Ice Cube for a campaign that positions the rapper and actor as a claims adjuster.
• Swoop, a healthcare marketing agency, partnered with iSpot to improve audience segmentation and targeting capabilities for pharma brands.