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?"

Editor's Pick

More than 35 years after their first collaboration, Sizzler and “Full House” actress Jodie Sweetin have joined forces once again to recreate their iconic 1987 television ad.

The new campaign, called "Still As Great As Ever" from Mischief @ No Fixed Address, starts with a clip of the original 80s ad, and then turns to present-day Sweetin, who talks about Sizzler’s made-to-order steaks and unlimited salad bar.

The original ad from 1987 highlighted Sizzler’s steak and all-you-can-eat shrimp deal. A very young Sweetin tucks into a pile of shrimp, but her plate keeps getting refilled, causing her mother to admonish her for not eating more.

“Sizzler wants to be relevant in culture again, and get the people who grew up with their steak, seafood and salad bar to share it with their own kids,” Hunter Fine, creative director at Mischief @ No Fixed Address, said in a statement. “So when we found the 1987 commercial of Jodie Sweetin at Sizzler, we knew we had to bring her back to comically let people know that just like her acting, Sizzler is still as great as ever.”

When Sizzler was founded in 1958 by Del and Helen Johnson in Culver City, California, a steak dinner cost 99 cents. The chain has gone through two rounds of bankruptcy, the most recent of which was in 2020 as a result of Covid. Today, Sizzler has about 75 locations in the U.S. and eleven in Puerto Rico.