Boston Pizza is on the hunt for fans. The restaurant chain has introduced a new campaign that focuses on fan culture and the brand’s link to sports.
The campaign, by Boston Pizza’s agency of record Taxi, will roll out through 2015. On Feb. 20, it launched the first spot with the brand’s new tagline, “We’ll Make You A Fan.”
The tagline has a double meaning, both alluding to its sports connections and making a promise to deliver a high quality dining experience, said Steve Silverstone, executive vice-president of marketing for Boston Pizza.
The new positioning builds on “Here To Make You Happy,” which Boston Pizza had been using for the past five years. Silverstone said the company decided to focus its attention on sports after taking an extensive look at research on Canadians’ interest in sports and sporting culture.
Together with its media agency, UM, Boston Pizza looked at numbers from the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) and a number of other studies. It found, for example, the vast majority (85%) of Canadians watch sports (according to the BBM-RTS Major Market-Spring 2014 study). It also found 71% of Canadian children play sports (according to the PMB 2014 Spring 2-Year Readership and Product Database), making sports a key driver for Boston Pizza’s target of families.
The restaurant chain also tested and refined the positioning based on the results of the monthly panels it ran with Boston Pizza guests.
What the brand learned about Canadians’ love for sports helped inform the media buy for “We’ll Make You A Fan,” which includes a large presence on Rogers-owned NHL properties (Ed note: Marketing is owned by Rogers). Silverstone said the co-viewing by families of big hockey games made the NHL an attractive part of the media buy. Ads from the campaign will also during popular sporting event coverage including Toronto Raptors games and international soccer games.
Starting March 2, Boston Pizza will begin rolling out additional ads that tell “Fan Stories.” Shot documentary style, the ads will feature actors telling stories about the sporting world. The first will feature a young boy whose parents “find relief from his constant heckling at Boston Pizza.” The brand is also asking consumers to tell their own fan stories using the hashtag #BPFanStories and will be curating the best responses into a digital “Hall of Fans.”
The campaign will be rounded out with radio ads for specific promotions, out-of-home and print ads in local publications near Boston Pizza restaurants. In-store, the campaign’s “Fanifesto” will be displayed on every menu.
Silverstone said the campaign is a return to a vital, long-standing part of the Boston Pizza brand. According to him, one of the first-ever marketing initiatives by Boston Pizza was the sponsorship of a local hockey team in Edmonton, where founder Gus Agioritis opened the first location.
“Sports goes right back to 50 years ago, when the brand was founded,” he said. “We’ve had a deep connection to sports and to community throughout our history. [The campaign] leverages what we think is core to our DNA and something that no other brand in our space in Canada can stand for.”
