Advertising Success In A Tiny Bag of Flour

CONFRONTING THE MARCH THE CO-OP ADVERTISING MATERIALS

There's a marketing challenge many small businesses face. If you (like so many readers to Hot Points) work in radio, you're especially aware of it. Depending on your market, you see it more than you'd care to.

That challenge is facing down the march of the co-op advertising materials.

We're not talking about the ridiculous dictum, "I must say the company's name three times in my ad to qualify for co-op." That's a whole other brand of stupid we can address some other time.

What we're talking about here is the advertiser who comes in armed with prepared advertising materials. In the case of radio, it's a 60-second commercial that has 10 seconds of space at the end for the local advertiser to insert his name and call to action.


POINTLESSNESS FOR THE LOCAL ADVERTISER

What these ads usually end up being is a (frequently) lousy ad for the brand, offering no compelling reason to visit the actual advertiser.

Years ago, I was confronted with radio commercials for a certain brand of home air conditioning. They consisted of lame comedy about the brand, already produced, and enough room for the dealer to tag his name and phone number.

So, on the remote chance anyone hearing the commercials was in any way intrigued about the brand, they were more likely compelled to go off in search of the brand name rather than the advertiser who paid for the ad. With probably a hundred dealers of that brand in town, it was easy.

Nothing the ads said in any way made the actual advertiser anything more than an afterthought.


PIPING HOT ADVERTISING DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR

Bearing all this in mind, I today offer up a kickass, home-grown effort by a local franchisee.

He completely understands the need to be unique, relevant, compelling and localized in his advertising.

It's entirely likely he could have fallen back on materials prepared by the franchise parent.

Instead, he apparently went a completely different route, all on his own.

Before proceeding, I must extend credit to the man who brought this gem to my attention, Troy White.

If you're not familiar with him, Troy is an internationally recognized small business marketing expert. This example came to me via his Small Business Copywriter newsletter. (You may find Troy at www.smallbusinesscopywriter.com.)

What Troy presented in a recent edition was one of the single most insightful and aggressive pizza advertisements ever.

Typically, when you receive a pizza ad at home, it's either a mailer or a door hanger, raging with prices, call outs and offers. This one was different.


PIZZA BY KARIM

Yeah, I know. You want your pizza to be made by a guy named Tony. No matter.

The ad was a letter from a fellow named Karim, who owns the local Nick & Willy's Pizza franchise.

Attached to the letter was a little plastic bag of flour.

In the letter, Karim explains how the flour in this little bag is the secret behind their superior pizza.

He explains how this better, more expensive flour has a higher protein content, yielding better crust than the competition. He also explains how they make their own dough on site, unlike their competitors who order it from some distant and faceless commissary.

In a lovely piece of amateur copywriting, Karim explains that the competition's inferior ingredients are what lead to "limp, often soggy, pizza crust."

He develops the mystique of his superior pizza dough, talking about the dedication and time required, which yields "complexity" and "character," invoking the ideas of good beer and even fine wine.

Then, after really making you believe in the superiority of this pizza, and making you want it, he sinks in the hooks.

There's a 100% guarantee: "If it's not the best you've ever eaten, we'll refund your purchase price," and he offers a limited-time coupon for a free "signature" Caesar salad and Focaccia bread.


SHATTERING THE PARADIGM

This may be the single best pizzeria advertisement I've ever seen.

The normal model for pizza advertising is "offer, offer, offer!"

For some time, I had a subscription to Pizza Today magazine, the professional journal for pizzeria owners. The marketing articles were always about offer-driven advertising. The marketing services advertised in the back of the magazine were all about printing door hangers and refrigerator magnets.

This is absolutely the first time I've ever seen any pizza joint advertise in a way that attempts to elevate the product.

And it does so in a way that appears totally homegrown and believable. seeing the letter, never for a second would you guess that Nick & Willy's is a franchise.

(In a nod to Nick & Willy's, I have seen some of their corporate advertising materials and they also do a pretty good job--but what Karim has done is special.)

We're living in a time when pizza has become the gourmet food of the beautiful people. Yes, it seems even the beautiful people are feeling the economic pinch. And famous gourmet chefs across the country are opening high-end pizza joints to accommodate them. And in light of the elevation pizza is experiencing, it's really interesting to see a decidedly non-elitist, populist pizzeria playing the elevation game while remaining accessible to his populist customer base.

But more importantly, he provides a shining example for any dealer or franchisee who has access to corporate ad materials.


THROW THOSE CORPORATE AD MATERIALS OUT THE WINDOW!

Yes, I realize it's a sweeping statement.

As soon as I say this, there will be half a dozen readers coming back with examples of brilliant co-op ads.

The point is: be unique, be compelling, be original. Make me WANT your product or service from YOU, not from the corporation.

I can't tell you how many clients came to me back in my radio days, selling some franchise or MLM or other cookie cutter product or service, and were utterly unwilling to be unique.

No matter how much we explained to them that the corporate, co-op line was a recipe for failure, the insisted on moving forward with it.

They all failed.

Karim here has seen the light. He's a local businessman who recognizes the need to stand apart. He understands the necessity to position himself in a way none of his competitors have.

If he's up against mailers for Papa Johns, Domino's and Pizza Hut, I guarantee: he's the only one whose mailer isn't being tossed into a kitchen drawer with the idea that maybe I'll call when I'm too lazy to cook dinner.

Karim is making himself desirable. He's turning his store into a destination.

That's a whole lot of mileage from one tiny bag of flour.

If you'd like to see the original letter, visit Troy White's blog at http://www.blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/million-dollar-ideas-from-a-pizza-joint/