Americans love Pizza, so much so that some cities end up having pizza wars between long-time vendors. But in the world of big company pizza, we’re comparing the public relations strategies of three of the top pizza restaurant lines in the US … some are even global.
Pizza Hut
One of their newest campaigns features Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig as “The Everyman.” If you haven’t seen them yet, they’ll be happening in the breaks between some of your favorite shows soon. The campaign focuses on how “Everyman” wants fast and hot pizza delivered to their doorstep. It ties in with a recent press release from the company that they will be hiring an additional 30,000 drivers to seal the “fast” part of that deal.
Of course, like other top pizza brands, they also focus on their app that allows customers to order as well as track the progress of their pizza to be delivered. The campaign won’t stick to just television ads either, they will include outreach efforts, social media content, and radio ads. All promoting a special $7.99 pizza deal. Their public relations efforts are run through an in-house PR department, although they have worked with Freud Communications in the UK in the past.
Dominos
Much of Dominos recent efforts to connect with their customers and build a good PR record are focused on new offerings. Those are not all about food, though within the last year or so, they introduced salads and now bread twists to their menu. The new bread twists replace the bread sticks options previously on the menu since those didn’t seem to get rave reviews from their consumers. Dominos started asking questions and have now changed their menu with the hope that having listened to what was said, they’re offering an upgraded version of the three flavors.
They’ve also gone a bit out of the ordinary by creating a Pizza wedding registry. Yep, that’s right, if you are getting married and got all the other stuff you want, or what you really want is lots of pizza possibilities for now and the future of your marriage, register with Dominos for pizza! Now with approximately 17,000 locations around the world, their company has seen a lot of expansion. Dominos has also focused a lot of energy on tech. Making sure they also offer a pizza ordering and tracking app. Dominos also has an in-house PR department and has worked with Ketchum PR from time to time.
Papa John’s
Papa John’s is known for their first place rating in customer service, their “best ingredients,” and their newest campaign is to be “all in” and offer “piece of mind.” They also seem to offer new flavors for pizza on a regular basis. The company regularly goes out of the way to help the communities where they have locations. In 2012 they gave $1 million for efforts in disaster recovery and relief.
They no longer use anything artificial or synthetic in their ingredients, and as of mid-2016, all chicken used by the chain is antibiotic-free. Doing their best to live up to their slogan of “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza.” Papa John’s also has an in-house PR department, and have worked with Edelman PR and Sitrick PR in the past.
Unexpected Events
Never discount the opportunities that come your way and if they relate to excellent customer service, make sure you get the word out on social media. Papa John’s was able to connect a grandmother with her frantic relations during hurricane Matthew. They didn’t start the process, the distant family did, but they took a cellphone as well as a pizza to Grandma and connected family for “piece of mind.”
Dominos had two unexpected incidents, one good and one not. The good one, in Oregon, the local manager noticed she hadn’t heard from a regular customer who she also knew had health problems. She sent a driver to the man’s home where he was found on the ground. The driver got medical help to him, and Dominos showed what great and caring people they are.
Unfortunately, there also came an unrelated post from a young man about a pizza ordered by his mother on her phone app. It appears she didn’t choose a sauce or cheese, just pepperoni. Up came a picture on his post of a slab of dry bread and lots of pepperoni slices sliding sloppily around the crust. Though this was tweeted onto the Dominos site, no response was made quickly … instead, DiGiorno used it to grab the spotlight and later sent the young man 10 coupons for free DiGiorno pizzas.
Oops. Always remember your customer service opportunities, if you don’t, someone else will.