George Felix (Chili's Grill & Bar) | The Playbook for Becoming Brand of the Year

Who doesn’t remember the Chili’s jingle—“I want my baby back, baby back, baby back…”? Or maybe you’ve seen the viral TikToks about Chili’s Triple Dipper. Chili’s is back in culture in a big way, and much of that credit goes to their Chief Marketing Officer, George Felix.

George is one of today’s most dynamic marketing leaders. He started his career at P&G—where, like me, he worked on the legendary Old Spice turnaround—before moving on to Yum! Brands with KFC and Pizza Hut. Three years ago, he took on Chili’s, and the results have been remarkable. Under George’s leadership, Chili’s has gone from not even being a national advertiser to becoming Ad Age’s Brand of the Year, with George himself named CMO of the Year.

In this episode, George shares his playbook for turning brands around, the importance of listening to frontline team members, and how to make a heritage brand cool again. And yes—we even take a detour into Taylor Swift.

This conversation was recorded in person at the Next Gen CMO Academy at Deloitte University.

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