Even with an A-list celebrity, how do we create content that supports an editorial guide to the best restaurants in LA that will still feel relevant for those who don’t live in Los Angeles?
We set out to create buzz around our talent guide, Chris Pine Knows LA Restaurants, by seamlessly integrating it into an engaging social moment. Our strategy was simple: Highlight our hyper-specific recommendations by inviting well-known LA native, Chris Pine, to lunch at an iconic LA establishment, Langer’s Deli, and filming the entire meal. What we didn’t expect was the sheer magnitude of the public’s reaction and the cultural impact of his Big Boy tank and thigh-baring red shorts.
As diners at Langer’s Deli caught sight of Chris Pine—sporting an instantly iconic outfit—the moment took on a life of its own. Social media erupted with curiosity and excitement, presenting us with a pivotal opportunity. Rather than letting others dictate the narrative, we took control. By strategically linking the moment back to our content, we ensured The Infatuation remained at the center of the conversation.
The sighting of Chris Pine at Langer’s Deli was no accident—it was part of our strategic effort to connect his star power with our knowledge of the best in LA restaurants.
We were tasked to create a relatable moment between Chris Pine and Brant Cox, Editorial Lead in LA, to scale the content beyond LA to achieve our goals of 1.5M impressions, 3K site clicks, and an engagement rate of 0.25% which aligns with our content strategy and industry standards.
In order to achieve our goal, we set out to interview Pine and create a long-form video showcasing his love of LA restaurants and his expertise, pairing it with our hyper-local, hyper-specific recommendations. The plan included creating a social video as well as a written editorial guide featuring Pine’s picks, using social media to drive engagement and encourage visitors to read the guide.
Chris Pine showed up in an unintentionally iconic outfit, which instantly got people talking at tables around us. The curiosity around what Pine was doing at Langer’s was the perfect opportunity to act quickly and capitalize on the buzz.
A key challenge was ensuring we didn’t lose control of the narrative. By proactively driving the conversation, we turned a spontaneous moment into a strategic win. Through a teaser video edited and approved in 24 hours, and our long-form interview posted within the week, we quickly showed the world that we were behind Pine’s appearance (even if we didn’t choose the shorts) at Langer’s and our content delivered on the following:
This quickly became our most successful social campaign to date. We blew our benchmarks out of the water and were able to scale the campaign beyond our initial projections.
Beyond the numbers, we successfully positioned The Infatuation at the center of the moment, transforming organic buzz into a strategic amplification of our content. By taking control of the conversation, we not only met but exceeded our original goals—turning a planned yet serendipitous moment into a masterclass in real-time social storytelling by leaning into our expertise of creating hyper-specific recommendations that are entertaining, relevant, and useful to those beyond the target city.
