If you had $3 Mil, would you buy a Superbowl ad?

[RickDuris]

Papa John's Pizza says "No, thank you."

I love their Superbowl strategy. From USA Today:

"Among the most interesting is Papa John's, which Monday will announce plans to give a free large pizza to every American — if the Super Bowl goes into its first-ever overtime. The catch: You must sign up for its online loyalty program before game day (Feb. 6).

"We'd rather give away millions in free pizzas than spend millions on a spot," says Andrew Varga, Papa John's marketing chief.

Because Papa John's is an NFL sponsor — advertising in games all season, he says, "We don't feel the need to make the investment in the game." The free pizza deal — which he estimates could cost Papa John's 100,000 pizzas — will be promoted digitally, he says. The chain also will randomly give away pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday to folks who order online."

Imagine what you could do with that list--online, mobile and offline.

Why Papa John's, Intel, others said no to Super Bowl ads - USATODAY.com

- Rick Duris

PS: To sign-up: Papa John?s Pizza Delivery and Specials ? Order Pizza Online for Delivery or Pickup.

[Bruce Wedding]

Brilliant promo list building. And great odds that he gets the list free.

[Ross James]

That's interesting. If I had the three million dollars to spend on an ad I'm sure there would be a lot more where that came from.

I personally liked Domino's marketing strategy better.

"Hot, Fresh Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed."

-Ross

[Bruce Wedding]

Originally Posted by Ross James

That's interesting. If I had the three million dollars to spend on an ad I'm sure there would be a lot more where that came from.

I personally liked Domino's marketing strategy better.

"Hot, Fresh Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed."

-Ross

It was a great offer, no doubt. But looking at this, I think I'd pick Papa Johns.

[JonWebContent]

Originally Posted by Ross James

That's interesting. If I had the three million dollars to spend on an ad I'm sure there would be a lot more where that came from.

I personally liked Domino's marketing strategy better.

"Hot, Fresh Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed."

-Ross

It's a great strategy until you realize that 90% of your employees are potheads.

[Ross James]

Originally Posted by JonWebContent

It's a great strategy until you realize that 90% of your employees are potheads.

That's too bad, isn't it? It's not the point. Domino's offered that LONG before there was ever a thing called a "list" and if there was it wasn't digital. Domino's did it to create a unique selling strategy that was rare in the home delivery market place - USP. Brilliant if you ask me, so is this one from Papa John's, brilliant!

-Ross

[stealthpromo]

Hey dont hate on the potheads. They need a job market too

[JonWebContent]

Originally Posted by Ross James

That's too bad, isn't it? It's not the point. Domino's offered that LONG before there was ever a thing called a "list" and if there was it wasn't digital. Domino's did it to create a unique selling strategy that was rare in the home delivery market place - USP. Brilliant if you ask me, so is this one from Papa John's, brilliant!

-Ross

Yeah, it's just too bad the marketing campaigns for Papa John's and Domino's outdo the quality of their pizza. It's not horrible pizza, but I only eat it if I happen to be at an outing that is serving it. People like their pizza, obviously, or they would have gone out of business years ago. Just not me.

I wonder how popular pizza places like Papa John's and Domino's are in major cities? In my town (500,000 people approx.), they're very popular because 99% of our restaurants are chain restaurants and we have no actual local flavor. But it seemed when I lived in Chicago and, to an extent, Kansas City these types of pizza restaurants were less popular because they actually have REAL local food.

[fasteasysuccess]

The great thing is they actually had some type of direct response. Most companies "drop the ball" on million dollar commercials just shoving there brand out there versus having some kind of thing to get people up and buying.

A lot of money for 30 seconds...so you got to make it count.

[astnpwrz]

Hmmm...i'd say papa johns already has MORE than enough brand awareness. And since brand awareness cant actually be measured, I believe the pizza deal will be great depending on how they are actually promoting it. TV is not as popular as it once was, but the Superbowl is still king when it comes to advertising LOL. Oh, and kudos to papa john for leaning toward the web. Wonder what the fan page looks like? Gonna go check it out.

[BrandonLee]

Pagliai's! Awesome pizza!

Originally Posted by JonWebContent

It's a great strategy until you realize that 90% of your employees are potheads.

[RickDuris]

Originally Posted by astnpwrz

Hmmm...i'd say papa johns already has MORE than enough brand awareness. And since brand awareness cant actually be measured, I believe the pizza deal will be great depending on how they are actually promoting it. TV is not as popular as it once was, but the Superbowl is still king when it comes to advertising LOL. Oh, and kudos to papa john for leaning toward the web. Wonder what the fan page looks like? Gonna go check it out.

I believe they've got "a tiger by the tail" with this idea.

I don't watch TV so I don't know what's happening there. News channels and such. Local or national.

So far the results on Google and Twitter are rather modest. See for yourself. Search for: Papa John's Super Bowl

I suspect if we follow the company's progress, it will build. Not necessarily brand awareness, but offer awareness. It's a bold offer.

At the end of the day, it would be very useful to have a national list segregated by zip code of all the mobile numbers. The local Papa John's franchisees will have so much fun with making offers to this list. Assuming they get access. But maybe they won't. Corporate can get weird like that, once they realize the asset they've got.

Imagine a Papa John's iPhone app. A link to download and you're good to go.

What I like is the publicity angle for all sorts applications. Local, regional and national.

Let's say you're a local restaurant and the local high school team is playing their rival. Who will win and by how much? Sign-up and get a free meal or desert if the criteria is met.

Let's say you're a local lawn maintenance company. Again, who will win and by how much? Imagine the use of that mobile phone # list!

Will Sarah Palin run for office? Absolutely. But who will be her running mate? If you guess correctly... Fox News has a gift for you.

Applications galore. Infinite variety and opportunity. Smooth transition to a more personal, more targeted loyalty and membership programs.

If they do this right, everybody will run with this idea. Like every fast food restaurant swiped McDonald's "Value Meal" strategy.

- Rick Duris

PS: If I were a franshisee, I'd piggyback on this in a big way with local PR. Because whatever numbers they collect correspond directly to business for me. And I'd be fulfilling anyway if I "lose".

[Michael Liu]

I completely agree, having a list of people whom you can market and make offers to over and over again is better then a one off ad that is there to build brand awareness.

[Isaiah]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding

It was a great offer, no doubt. But looking at this, I think I'd pick Papa Johns.

Indeed..but DPZ is on a nice trend up though

[AdmiralGloom]

Pizza is already programmed into the pot heads mind.

"Back in the day" I loved clipping coupons, trading coupons, ect. Actually, it was kind of cool, I guess, back where I was from to do it. And hey, it benefited us regardless!

And any deal on pizza, pshh! Forget White Castle

[davemiz]

lol you guys have no clue how the big ad game works.... and i'm talking completely clueless....

how much do you pay for your ad to get seen online?

if you were doing ppc, whats a visitor to your website worth?

how much would you pay for your ad to get seen by several hundred million people?

its for big brands. they dont play the nickel and dime game... they're making tens (if not hundreds of) millions at a clip.

And if they were all so dumb for doing 'stupid' ads... where the hell is all the money coming from???

dont you think all these big brands would be broke and outta business by now?

duh.

[RickDuris]

I didn't say brand advertising was "stupid" at all. Your point though is well taken.

If you read the article, it said Papa John's is a sponsor for the NFL. Clearly, a very expensive marketing proposition. And if you visit their website, you'll notice they are leveraging it.

I only posted because I admire their strategy for leveraging the Superbowl. And I think their promotion will go viral and I also think it has application beyond just the Superbowl.

As you may know, creating a viral, profitable marketing campaign is very hard to do. Unreliably consistent. Although it's still anyone's guess, I think they've done it. And they've done it in a way everyone can take advantage. Adapt and adopt.

- Rick Duris

PS: I was talking with a friend who's eyeing an opportunity to takeover ownership of a local pizza place. Independent.

His monthly "nut" would be about $4,000. You have to sell a 400 pizzas every month at $10/each just to breakeven. Do the math on a daily basis, and the first 13 pizzas you make everyday, pays the overhead.

I'm thinking to myself "That's a lot of pizzas."

For Papa John's to be able to do that nationwide, clearly they are doing something right.

[Bruce Wedding]

IMer Jeff Dedrick used to own a Little Caesars and he killed it. I think he was their highest producing store. Had to buy space next door and put in another freezer to store all his pizza dough. If you know how to market, it scales.

[BloggingPro]

I'm not going to get into the argument about the effectiveness of Super Bowl advertising. I will say that the point of super bowl ads are to get your brand message out to the largest audience in the shortest amount of time. I expect ads from all the big players, and I would be willing to bet Verizon will be running an iPhone 4 commercial.

As for what Papa John's is doing? Pure genius if you ask me, especially considering I don't think anyone believes for a second this game is going into OT. So if it doesn't go into OT then you have just built yourself a MASSIVE list--one that is obviously interested in your product.

Now consider what happens in two months when they email/text that list with a special offer that they will actually profit from? Cha-Ching...! Their marketing team should pat themselves on the back.

And if the game goes into OT? Well you still have a list that you can shore up the "loss" with huge profits down the line.

[Doran Peck]

..side note...couple years back...A local spa/pool company had a promo...giving away spa tubs, and other things in mass numbers if the Superbowl's opening kickoff were returned for a TD.

Well...it happened to be Devin Hester with the opportunity...the greatest returner in all history....and he of course, took it all the way.

..it apparently almost ruined his business...and I remember reading a local article that said he really didn't know much about football or Devin Hester...haha poor guy.

[Pusateri]

Originally Posted by Doran Peck

..side note...couple years back...A local spa/pool company had a promo...giving away spa tubs, and other things in mass numbers if the Superbowl's opening kickoff were returned for a TD.

There are insurance companies that write policies to cover promotions like this. Good to know if you ever decide to try one.

[Bruce Wedding]

Yep, I used one once to have a $100,000 "hole in one" prize for a golf tournament. I think it cost about $800.

[Bruce Wedding]

Speaking of the original question... What's the CPM on the $3MM ad?

[JonWebContent]

As for what Papa John's is doing? Pure genius if you ask me, especially considering I don't think anyone believes for a second this game is going into OT. So if it doesn't go into OT then you have just built yourself a MASSIVE list--one that is obviously interested in your product.

Why do you say no one believes this game will go into OT? Green Bay and Pittsburgh are very evenly matched teams. That doesn't always translate to a competitive game because odd things happen in football that can change the complexity of the game (ie turnovers, mistakes, etc), but I think this game will go right down to the wire, so OT is always a possibility. I personally think Pittsburgh will win because they've got the better defense, but a couple of Rapistberger turnovers and you never know. Football is a funny game sometimes!

I still like the promotion. I just won't be eating any of their pizza!

[Ken Strong]

Originally Posted by RickDuris

His monthly "nut" would be about $4,000. You have to sell a 400 pizzas every month at $10/each just to breakeven. Do the math on a daily basis, and the first 13 pizzas you make everyday, pays the overhead.

I'm thinking to myself "That's a lot of pizzas."

Doesn't seem like a lot to me -- a reasonably busy place could sell that many in an hour, or two hours at the most. Also, your estimate of $10 per pizza seems low to me for an average. I assume he sells a lot more than pizza. The average total value of each sale would be a lot more, especially if there's more than one person. He could make his nut easily with the first 5 or 6 sales of the day.

I used to own a used bookstore, which has to be about the simplest and lowest-overhead brick-and-mortar business there is, and my monthly nut was over $2k.

[pethanks]

Of course not! I will help the poor people when I have that money.

[alcymart]

With a free $3 million, I would gradually invest it back in IM, and give the profits to a sick children's fund but maybe that's just me

Take care,

Bernard St-Pierre
Marketing Consultant
Copywriter/Teacher

[davemiz]

and think about this guys.... if i'm not mistaken, Geico has been the largest advertiser, i think from what i'm hearing as far as spending and as far as airtime goes.

i think they spent somethin like 60 mill on advertising in one year.

now think about this for a second ppl.... who the F spends 60 million on something if they aren't making money?

you'd have to be a moron.

but for some strange reason.... geico is still in business.... even though they're doing 'dumb' advertising...

[RickDuris]

Originally Posted by davemiz

and think about this guys.... if i'm not mistaken, Geico has been the largest advertiser, i think from what i'm hearing as far as spending and as far as airtime goes.

i think they spent somethin like 60 mill on advertising in one year.

now think about this for a second ppl.... who the F spends 60 million on something if they aren't making money?

you'd have to be a moron.

but for some strange reason.... geico is still in business.... even though they're doing 'dumb' advertising...

Here's the brilliance in what you just said, Dave:

Their advertising strategy did not take root until Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet/Charlie Munger) invested massively in them.

They primed the pump. There is a definitive strategy behind Geico's success. No doubt. (And they're replicating it across industries.)

- Rick Duris

PS: If numbers don't intimidate you, some of the best personal writing is Warren Buffet's letters to shareholders:

Shareholder Letters

It's brilliant work. Swipe file worthy. Especially Warren's mea culpa when things weren't going so good for the company.

[Bruce Wedding]

Yep, Buffet's letters are awesome. Imagine, one of the richest men in the world yet he knows how to communicate to the masses. He should have been a copywriter

[sethczerepak]

If I had three million, I'd do a targeted direct mailing...

or...go to the dollar store and buy three million of something...

[Collette]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding

Yep, Buffet's letters are awesome. Imagine, one of the richest men in the world yet he knows how to communicate to the masses. He should have been a copywriter

I suspect he HAS a "copywriter". Almost all of that kind of corporate stuff is ghostwritten, and approved by the signatory before it goes 'live'.

(I say "almost all", because there may be someone out there who writes their own stuff, but no names come to mind)

P.S. Check out 2008. Buffet spends NO time waffling at the beginning. He jumps right in with a full-court press of the problem, moves briskly to globalize the pain, and segues smoothly into, "here's how we're going to make it all better for you".

[Bruce Wedding]

I realize much of that stuff is ghost written, Collette. But in Buffet's case, I hope you're wrong. I love his story about Thriftville vs Squanderville. Guess which one the USA is.

Squanderville versus Thriftville – Trade Reform

[Collette]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding

...But in Buffet's case, I hope you're wrong. ....

Meh. Me, I don't care. Good writing is good writing. And that's some good writing.

Even if Buffet isn't penning his own stuff, at least he's smart enough to recognize good copy. And get out of his copywriter's way.

The perfect client.

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Collette

I suspect he HAS a "copywriter". Almost all of that kind of corporate stuff is ghostwritten, and approved by the signatory before it goes 'live'.

(I say "almost all", because there may be someone out there who writes their own stuff, but no names come to mind)

P.S. Check out 2008. Buffet spends NO time waffling at the beginning. He jumps right in with a full-court press of the problem, moves briskly to globalize the pain, and segues smoothly into, "here's how we're going to make it all better for you".

Nope, Warren writes all his own stuff - in longhand with an old "Cross" fountain pen. He just confirmed it - I have him on the other line.

But seriously -

Every year since 1971 CEO Buffett has written a letter to his shareholders. Buffett writes the longest, most informative letter of any CEO in the world. Unlike other executives, Buffett spends months polishing his prose and searching for the precise word needed to focus a thought. His goal is simple: to honor his words and keep his word. He wants to give his investors the information he would like to know if he were in their place.

[Collette]

Originally Posted by Metronicity

Nope, Warren writes all his own stuff - ...

One biography says Carol Loomis has a hand in writing and editing the Berkshire Hathaway annual letters. However, it actually wouldn't surprise me if Buffet lays down the first draft, from what I know of the man. And he'd probably do it in longhand, too.

He's certainly literate enough (coming from a time when literacy was still valued, and an education was something to be prized; not squandered). He's a voracious reader with eclectic tastes. And writing his own letters is something that would fit in with his unpretentious, regular-guy approach to the way he lives his life.

Yep. I'll bet Warren knows his way around a possessive apostrophe...

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Collette

One biography says Carol Loomis has a hand in writing and editing the Berkshire Hathaway annual letters. However, it actually wouldn't surprise me if Buffet lays down the first draft, from what I know of the man. And he'd probably do it in longhand, too.

He's certainly literate enough (coming from a time when literacy was still valued, and an education was something to be prized; not squandered). He's a voracious reader with eclectic tastes. And writing his own letters is something that would fit in with his unpretentious, regular-guy approach to the way he lives his life.

Yep. I'll bet Warren knows his way around a possessive apostrophe...

Sigh...she's his pal. He writes it - she edits.

[Jag82]

Buffett's writings are required readings for
any kind of long term (value) investors.

Love the way he educates his shareholders.

[Collette]

Originally Posted by Metronicity

Sigh...she's his pal. He writes it - she edits.

Why the sigh?