Boston Pizza has launched the next stage of its sports fan-focused marketing campaign with a new pitchman, Gerry the general manager, as it works to boost market share in the intensely competitive casual dining sector.
“Gerry, Boston Pizza’s GM,” is a character who claims in the ads to “run his restaurant like a sports franchise,” promoting his food like he would his players.
The campaign, created with agency Taxi 2, introduces the brand’s new creative platform, “All-Star Food.”
“With this new campaign and creative platform, Boston Pizza stays true to its brand tone and personality while using humour to breakthrough in an increasingly competitive category,” the company says.
The first commercial focuses on takeout and delivery, while the second spot, launching Feb. 15 celebrates Boston Pizza’s namesake pizza.
It will be the first time approximately 10 years that the company has made pizza the central focus of its ads, said Steve Silverstone, executive vice-president of Marketing at Boston Pizza.
“A lot of our competition is focused on price. We think the way to support our value equation is to talk about the quality of our menu and food items,” Silverstone says. “Our menu has come a long way in the last number of years.”
The latest campaign is an evolution of Boston Pizza’s “We’ll make you a fan” campaign that it launched last year as part of a brand repositioning.
The strategy was to broaden the target beyond just “dads and dudes” to include moms and other female fans, Silverstone says.
The latest ads are appearing across traditional and specialty television, including sports programming, as well as social and digital media, including pre-roll video.
Silverstone says the campaign leverages the brand’s sports sponsorship programs with organizations such as the Toronto Blue Jays, Hockey Canada as well as the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.
UM is the media buyer behind the campaign, High Road Communications is handling the public relations and Olson is behind the digital, according to Silverstone.
