Raising Cane’s: From CEO to celebrity

[shaownhasan]

An Instagram post from Todd Graves (CEO of Raising Cane's) and Lori Greiner from the set of Shark Tank

The Raising Cane’s team uses Graves’ outgoing personality, likeability and popularity to their advantage, frequently featuring him in the brand’s social media content. Graves also has his own public Instagram channel (another CEO anomaly) where he is tagged as a collaborator on most of Raising Cane’s posts—amplifying their reach to his more than 500,000 job seekers data followers. He appears in influencer posts, like this one where he shared a meal at Raising Cane’s with an influencer who had never eaten at one of his restaurants.

An Instagram post from Todd Graves, CEO of Raising Cane's, and creator Simji Official sharing a signature chicken meal

It’s difficult to articulate just how effective this strategy has been for raising Graves’ profile. His unlikely origin story became the bedrock of the brand’s image, forever intertwining Graves and Canes. Awareness of one inevitability creates success for the other. The company is on track to amass $5 billion this year and Graves was subsequently named to the Fortune 400 list.

The play: The “throw your CEO in the spotlight” strategy will not work at every company. Probably not even most companies. This playbook is only meant for founders who stick around for their entire career, until the next generation inherits their business. Even when brands fit into that bucket, they should only pursue this approach if they have a leader who has clearly defined values, flourishes in the limelight and is discerning about what to share publicly.

For brands with all pieces of that puzzle, your CEO might be the golden ticket to massive growth and outpacing the competition. For others, adapt what makes sense for your company. Maybe it’s encouraging your CEO to create an Instagram account managed by the social team. Or doing more media outreach for your C-suite.