Even today, people are still shaking their heads and muttering in disgust over the International House of Pancakes’ decision to rebrand themselves into the International House of Burgers—from IHOP to IHOb.

It’s a switch the pancaking giant told us was coming weeks ago, when they released this video on Twitter and treated the world to a guessing game.

Then, yesterday, they held true to their word and made the switch, just in time to introduce a new line of premium burgers to the world. The reaction from all watching was…hilarious, to say the least.

 

ihob ridicule

So, did IHOb seriously mess up a rebranding opportunity with this ridiculousness, or did they pull of the biggest PR coup of 2018?

We, and Forbes, agree this was some massive PR gold. How else do you manage to get some of the biggest food brands in the world talking about you all day long instead of their own products? By opening themselves up to some light ribbing, they stayed on the minds of the buying public for weeks, culminating in one day of sheer IHOb ridiculousness.

You have to love a brand that can laugh at itself and invites others to laugh along. Well played, IHOP. Well played.