How Crispin Porter + Bogusky made pizza fun
If I appear to be a big fan of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s work, it’s because I am.
From a clever retail campaign for US chain Old Navy, to Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice Facebook campaign, it latest effort sees it attempting to turn Domino’s haters into converts by targeting three unsuspecting consumers in the US with localised and personalised ad campaigns.
If it can convincingly demonstrate that it can convert the brand’s harshest critics, then it can convince just about anyone to pick up the phone and order a pizza from them.
It definitely tops Domino’s Australia’s recent series of videos featuring the “Taste Police”. And it sure beats the latest efforts from Eagle Boys with its ‘too bland to even be a turkey’ TV ad.
Camille Alarcon
Linkedin
Love it.
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I used to work on Domino’s with a very large agency in the US. Every time we raised the issue of the actual product – i.e. that it was rubbish and most consumers told us it was rubbish – the client refused to talk about it. (All the while they ate anything but their own pizza in the backrooms of focus groups… they were particularly partial to Mellow Mushroom pizza, if I remember correctly.) Shame on us, frankly, for not having the internal credibility with the client to force the issue.
But this is what makes Bogusky such a f***ing genius ad guy: what with his ‘Baked In’ approach, and that clients come to his agency once everything else has failed (once they’re ready to listen to new ideas) he is able to get clients to address the real crux of their business problems: their products, services, store design, customer experience.
Most agencies are stuck putting ‘brand’ lipstick on a pig; CPB is remaking products, customer journeys, business models with their clients. (It’s humbling…)
Mix that with first rate creative, and there’s no surprise why that agency has been on top for so long.
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Brilliant creative. I personally dislike dominos, but after this ad perhaps ill give it a second chance.
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Not being Bill, Charlie or Scott, this doesn’t make me want to try Dominos in the slightest.
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That’s hot! Can’t beat a candid camera style scenario.
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That’s hot?
Like OMG.
But ageed, I liked it too.
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Awesome. Looks like they progressed from talking about ‘buyer personas’ to finding ACTUAL buyers and targeting them for real. Love it.
@Tom,
Insightful comment. And yes, an enviable position for an agency to be in…
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Great production.
The holdouts would have to have been cast and contracted, but you really believe they were surprised and the whole thing was spontaneous.
Good fun.
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Australia take note – this is how its done.
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Brilliant!
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Fortune favours the brave.
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the Dominos ad lacks any credibility — the actors look like paid stooges, sure I would try their new product if I was the subject of a campaign like that, but I wouldn’t bother otherwise.
the Aussie ad is at least comical, which should appeal more to the local market.
as for Eagle Boys, their pizzas at least look good, certainly better than Dominos, unfortunately not available outside QLD.
Tom raises a great point — it hard to sell a shitty product no matter how good your ads are, and Dominos has a long-standing reputation for pretty ordinary pizza — in the US it still enjoys some success, in the suburbs where good restaurants are non-existent, whilst Australians today are typically more discriminating when it comes to Italian food, which is why Pizza Hut is doing so poorly here.
beyond adding a few new ingredients, as they have done here and in the US, Dominos should put more emphasis on ‘authentic’ / ‘buongustaio’ pizzas with completely revised menus.
that said, there is ample evidence of where big budget advertising can effectively sell any product on the merits of its own worst aspects — just look at any commercial for a small car, which underscore the ‘spacious, roomy, interior’, the ‘huge carrying capacity’, and the ‘fun’ — even blind Freddie can attest, small cars are none of these things.
you could look further afield: ‘fresh, pleasant smelling, air deodorants’, ‘delicious tasting, instant coffee’, ‘beautifying, youthifying, cosmetics for ordinary ulgy people’, ‘healthy TV dinners’, or the eternally pervasive dream-‘lifestyle attainment products’, et al finitum — with enough dollars, you can sell almost anything.
interesting to note, on Dominos US site, it states: “Any Delivery Charge is not a tip paid to your driver. Please reward your driver for awesomeness.” — can I take that to mean if the service and/or pizza is less than awe inspiring, you can pay the driver nothing ?? that would surely ensure their minimum wage staff have a very rapid turnover.
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Great concept – noticed this bit of attention to detail in the fine print on the web site …
“Any Delivery Charge is not a tip paid to your driver. Please reward your driver for awesomeness.”
class
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http://alexbogusky.posterous.c.....nder-how-d
Call me the Green Giant
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