Full House's Jodie Sweetin Brings the Retro-Sizzle for Sizzler

Would you like a side of nostalgia with your steak and jumbo shrimp?

Sizzler serves it up with Full House star Jodie Sweetin, who last appeared in a commercial for the regional family restaurant chain waaay back in 1987.

Fresh work tagged "Still as Great as Ever" breaks today, marking Mischief @ No Fixed Address' debut for the brand. It's a cute spot, self-deprecating and self-aware. The pop-cultural past-blast—so trendy these days—feels right for an eatery that seems time-warped, a Regan-era relic that still dishes up surf 'n' turf in 2023.

"There's no hiding the nostalgic aspect of our film," notes Mischief creative director Hunter Fine. "We brought back someone that people remember from their childhood to the place people remember going in their childhood. Using a celebrity is certainly trending in advertising over the past few years, but in our case, using Jodie felt justified and right for the concept, because of her appearance in 1980s Sizzler commercials."

Sizzler provided a reel off its old ads to Mischief as the agency brainstorms concepts.

"That's where we found Jodie’s commercial, and inspiration struck," Fine recalls. "There's something really sincere and charming about bringing back someone who was in a Sizzler commercial in the '80s to say that just like them, Sizzler is still doing great. We did a little more research and found out that Jodie dabbles in comedy in her spare time, which made us comfortable and excited to reach out to her about the project. And when we did—she totally understood what we were doing with her character and helped us take the script to a better place."

This campaign doesn't just use nostalgia as a creative driver—the concept infuses the whole strategy.

"The target audience consists of 30-40-year-old parents who ate with their families at Sizzler as children," Fine says. The goal of the new work is to "get them coming back with their own kids. This specific generation grew up with Full House, or were exposed to it enough that Jodie Sweetin would be instantly recognizable. We know Sizzler hasn’t been top of mind for this demographic, so we focused mostly on awareness rather than featuring specific menu items. We believe even if this target decides to come to Sizzler ironically, we’ve done our job." 

The team filmed at a Sizzler in Los Angeles' Los Feliz neighborhood. 

"We were told by our clients that this location has been used for a lot of films and TV shows, so closing for a day would be standard procedure," Fine says. "They were pretty efficient for the shoot—and set aside a whole team to help us make the day run smoother and the food look great."

Clearly, working her sitcom catchphrase "How rude!" into the script would've posed a challenge. But that's not why it was left out.

"Apparently to license her saying it, we would have had to pay The Mouse half our production budget," Fine says. "How rude, right?"

CREDITS

Client:
President & Chief Services Officer: Chris Perkins 
Chief Financial Officer: Tim Perkins 
Chief Growth Officer: Robert Clark
Director of Marketing: Sasha Shennikov
Marketing Specialist: Moises Esteves 

Agency:
CCO: Greg Hahn
President & Partner: Kerry McKibbin 
EVP Production: Will Dempster
Producer: Danielle Balanov 
ECD: Bianca Guimaraes
ECD: Kevin Mulroy
Creative Director / Copywriter : Hunter Fine 
Designer: Sabrina Saccente
Managing Director: Tyler Harris 
Account Director: Kelsey Brown 

Production: Strike Anywhere
Prod Co: Strike Anywhere
EP: Victoria Guenier
Dir: Pete Marquis
Prod: Adam Lawson
DP: Josh Fisher
Production Designer: Laurent Turlure
Wardrobe Stylist: Soseh Keshishyan

Post/Editorial: Good Behavior
EP: Adam Lawson
Producer: Mitch Herndon
Editor: Dick Gordon
Colorist: Iris Devins

Audio: Heard City
Managing Partner: Gloria Pitagorsky
Mixer: Evan Mangiamele
Head Of Production: Jackie James
Executive Producer: Liana Rosenberg
Senior Producer: B Muñoz
Producer: Nick Duvarney
Assistant Producer: Dylan Stetson
Assistant Mixers: Virginia Wright, Zoltan Monori, Chenoa Tarin, Oddy Litlabo
VO Casting Director: Carrie Faverty

Design of Brand Assets: TAVERN 
Mike Perry
Amanda Psyhojos

Media Agency: Journey Further