Jack Astor’s Bar and Grill Celebrates ‘Bromance’ with Palentine’s Day

Feb. 14 literally gets all the love, and Galentine’s Day has become something of a phenomenon in recent years, but Jack Astor’s is adding a new holiday that celebrates best buds to its calendar. Introducing: Palentine’s Day.

Building off the cultural success of “Galentine’s Day,” the Feb. 13 holiday celebrating female friendships that grew out of an episode of the popular sitcom Parks & Recreation, the casual dining chain’s new Feb. 15 holiday is exclusively devoted to “bromance.”

While old social norms and toxic masculinity once made the idea of expressing intimate male friendship unthinkable, Jack Astor’s young Gen Z target has grown up comfortable with the idea of expressing platonic love for their bros.

“With Galentine's as a much-documented tradition that's been celebrated on Feb. 13 for over a decade, focusing our Feb. 15 Palentine's activation specifically on the importance of platonic male friendship is what makes it culturally relevant, talkable, and ownable for Jack's,” said Anesie Johnson VP, Marketing & Communications at SirCorp.

Jack Astor’s is promoting the new “holiday” with a social video campaign developed by agency partner The Garden. The video deliberately eschews the polished look and feel of traditional brand videos on social, opting instead to mimic the organic and often decidedly DIY videos that content creators shoot on their phone and immediately post to their feed.

The video shows a group of guy friends doing guy things (beer pong, video games, and chowing down on Jack’s burgers and chicken tenders), while also comfortably expressing affection for their friends. “It’s 2022 and, like, time to get progressive,” says one, putting his arm around his pal. “‘Cause there’s nothing wrong with showing some platonic male love to your best pals.”

The video goes on to show one friend dropping his phone in a red beer cup while explaining that he’s “putting bae on do-not-disturb,” while another asks his friends which of his three white t-shirts he should wear for their night together. “I just want to look good for you, bros,” he explains.

“Instead of being constrained by budgets and timelines, we wanted to create nimble content in order to be more responsive to all the events of a fun and fast-moving restaurant like Jack's,” says Lindsay Eady, Creative Director, The Garden. “Social content isn’t entertaining because it’s perfectly lit, coloured and cut. Funny doesn’t need all that lipstick.”

Jack Astor’s is also inviting its young audience to celebrate Palentine’s Day with a “bromantic” dinner special, which includes a free beer pong set with every order.  Viewers are also invited to tag a friend for a chance to win a $100 Jack’s gift card every day for one week.

Because bros deserve some tenders, love and care too.