• by Todd Wasserman , May 8, 2023

In the UK, TGI Fridays rebranded itself as “Fridays” in 2020. Now, the chain is bringing the “TGI” back in that market and has launched a campaign, “Show Your Stripes,” which aims to present the restaurant as a haven where guests can feel liberated and enjoy themselves. We spoke with Rhiannon Scarlett, chief marketing officer at TGI Fridays UK, about what the change means for the brand. Below are excerpts of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Marketing Daily: Why is the brand bringing the "TGI" back?

Rhiannon Scarlett: TGI Fridays is the original name we had when we first opened back in 1965. Our heritage is a huge part of the experience guests enjoy today, from the American-inspired food and cocktails to the party atmosphere.

People know and love the TGI Fridays name and we’ve made the decision to revert back to this to celebrate our history as the fun-loving original singles' bar.

 Marketing Daily: What is the thinking behind the “Show Your Stripes” campaign?

Scarlett: In October 2022, we launched our brand campaign “Show Your Stripes.” The campaign marked a significant stride forward in the brand’s overall revamp and repositioning, with our trademark stripes taking on a whole new meaning – from being a symbol of our heritage to one of self-expression. 

This campaign was part of our wider mission to position TGI Fridays as somewhere that guests can come to enjoy themselves, and where individuality is encouraged and celebrated. 

 

Marketing Daily: What ad agency worked on this campaign?

Scarlett: We worked closely with brand value agency Boldspace to craft the concept and bring the campaign to life, and advertising agency Tomorrow on the media plan. 

Marketing Daily: What have been the major challenges in coming to the brand when you did?

Scarlett: I was appointed to the role of chief marketing officer at TGI Fridays UK a year ago. This time marked quite a significant moment of changing consumer needs and expectations.

We had just emerged from the other side of the pandemic, which had completely turned the hospitality industry on its head and driven huge changes in the ways we could operate, and rising costs were beginning to take hold, thanks to inflation. 

And the impact of Brexit had started to become clear in terms of our ability to hire great teams of people.

 

Marketing Daily: How did you approach those challenges?

Scarlett: It’s been really important to be adaptable - whilst also staying true to the TGI Fridays brand and what makes it great. 

The Show Your Stripes campaign has played an important part in keeping us true to the brand, both in helping us attract brilliant teams but also in how we reward our guests. We revamped the TGI Fridays loyalty scheme to “Stripes Rewards,” which reward customers with points based on individual food choices, making authenticity the priority over spend.

Last year, we introduced Fridays and Go, bringing TGI Fridays into the takeaway space, giving our customers more choice over where to enjoy us.

We also undertook a major digital and data transformation, bringing data to the forefront of our planning and integrating customer and sales data to deliver a more relevant and connected experience for our guests. This will play a significant role in our approach for the future.

 

 

 

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