Dive Brief:

• White Castle launched a social influencer campaign to show people how to make recipes for Easter or brunch using its signature sliders. The burger chain's campaign includes content on social media that points to its website, where the recipes are shown under a banner saying, "Brunch is served," per details emailed to Marketing Dive.
• White Castle teamed with agency Blue Chip to create the recipes, including the Brunch Craver's Benedict made with White Castle Cheese Sliders, Castle Craver's Poutine with sliders and French fries and Bunny Sliders to turn its mini-burgers into Easter bunnies.
• White Castle and Blue Chip also created the Cravey Boat, a gravy boat with the White Castle logo and its trademark colors, for fans to buy online. The burger chain is running an email promotion with food and fashion influencers to engage consumers.

Dive Insight:

White Castle is expanding on the idea that it can be part of holiday celebrations with recipes that include its sliders as a key ingredient. With many people celebrating Easter at home instead going out for a special brunch or dinner because of worries about the pandemic, White Castle aims to show how its fans can enjoy its menu items, whether they're from a restaurant or the frozen-food aisle at a grocery.

The Easter recipes are a sign that White Castle has seen favorable response from campaigns that show how to use sliders in home-cooked recipes. The burger chain in November enlisted rapper Coolio to show how to make turkey stuffing with its signature sliders, and ran an influencer campaign for Friendsgiving celebrations.

White Castle is among the restaurant chains that have created branded merchandise to reinforce the bonds with fans and be culturally relevant among younger consumers. Among the more recent examples, bakery chain Dunkin' offered wedding-themed merchandise on its website for Valentine's Day. McDonald's has used the merchandising strategy for years, most recently with its capsule collection to support the launch of its entry into the "chicken sandwich wars" in February. Last year, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen sold a 10-piece line of athletic clothing inspired by its employee uniforms on its website.

White Castle's Easter campaign is its latest effort tied to a holiday occasion. As many consumers looked for reminders of their happier prepandemic lives, the chain in February revamped its long-running Valentine's Day event that lets people book a reservation for a fancy dinner. Because of restrictions on indoor dining, the chain transformed hundreds of locations into drive-in diners with carhop service. And to celebrate its 100th birthday, the chain partnered with Coca-Cola on a set of collectible cups that came to life via augmented reality.