Manager, Brand Advertising & Activations; IHOP

10 West Walnut Street Pasadena, CA 91103

Based in Pasadena, California, Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN), through its subsidiaries, franchises restaurants under Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar®, IHOP® and Fuzzy's Taco Shop® brands. With over 3,500 restaurants combined in 18 countries and 354 franchisees as of December 31, 2023, Dine Brands is one of the largest full-service restaurant companies in the world. For more information on Dine Brands, visit the Company's website located at

Manager, Brand Advertising & Activations is a new and critical role for IHOP and will directly report to the Director of Brand Experience. The Brand Experience team is directly responsible for IHOP’s national paid media and investment strategy, owned social content creation, web/CRM/loyalty, partnerships, advertising creative, and brand activations (e.g., National Pancake Day).

This key role is responsible for day-to-day planning and management of IHOP advertising campaigns, creative operations, ensuring flawless execution, and conducting ongoing analysis of IHOP’s advertising campaigns. This role involves driving breakthrough advertising campaigns to promote IHOP’s product marketing calendar and developing engaging brand activations to drive consideration and brand relevance.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong desire to breakthrough in a cluttered advertising marketplace, culture, and everything in between. An Advertising & Brand Activation Manager who can translate product and consumer insights into creative solutions to drive traffic and unlock latent love for the brand.

• A key supporting role in managing the creative development process across various paid media channels, including, but not limited to paid social, paid influencer content, video, audio, etc.
• Ensure all creative outputs align with established brand guidelines and meet asset needs (e.g., specs, variations, formats, etc.).
• Review all creative work through legal and product marketing.
• Conduct quality assurance checks and proofread all assets for product accuracy, correct legal disclaimers, and brand tone consistency.
• Oversee the facilitation of creative review and approval process from initial concept development through production, trafficking, and final launch.
• Coordinate pre-production calls and execute detailed checklists to ensure flawless creative shoots.
• Support Director, Brand Experience with brand activations and experiential programs, ensuring seamless execution of program.

• Support Director, Brand Experience in developing advertising briefs, manage concept and production timelines, ensure 1-voice feedback from key stakeholders is delivered to the agency within key milestone dates, and partner closely with media team to ensure an integrated plan.
• Support Director, Brand Experience with budget management and tracking expenses.

• Lead ongoing collaboration with stakeholders across departments throughout the campaign process, including briefings, creative development, launch, optimization, results analysis, and key learnings.
• Partner closely with the paid media team to monitor creative wear-out, understand creative learnings, and institute advertising best practices across paid media channels.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to integrate Paid, Owned, and Earned media efforts into one seamless Go‑to‑Market strategy.

• Bachelor’s degree in related field and restaurant experience is a plus.
• 7+ years of paid advertising creative experience via agency or in-house client side.
• Experience working with well‑known brands and high‑profile campaigns.
• Retail and or restaurant experience preferred.
• Excellent analytical, planning and organization skills.
• Demonstrated ability to drive improvement of creative KPIs via a strong analytical and creative mindset.
• Excellent problem‑solving and critical thinking skills.
• Talent for cross‑collaboration; experience working with multiple teams within one company.
• Demonstrated communication and organizational skills.
• Desire to learn and grow within a fast‑paced, constantly…