DiGiorno Pizza Marketing Approach Provides Printers With Good Food for Thought

They were from New York. They heard I was from Chicago.

“So, do you eat deep dish pizza for dinner every day?” I couldn’t be certain if the question was asked out of sarcasm or stupidity, but I suspected a mixture of both.

“Sure, every day for lunch and dinner, with hot dogs for dessert,” I replied in my deadpan style. Out of politeness I then steered the conversation into less volatile territory.

Chicagoans and New Yorkers may dispute the proper way to serve pizza or hot dogs, but we do agree we love the stuff. Another thing pizza purists agree upon, at least in public, is their disdain for frozen pizza. Yet, there appears to be quite a market for the frozen stuff.

My hat is off to DiGiorno brand frozen pizza, more specifically to their photographer. Their advertisements make grocery store frozen pizza look so appetizing, so delicious, so savory that I can almost smell it.

I find advertisements on Twitter to be ineffective and annoying. DiGiorno, however, has overcome my objections simply by subtly inserting a mouthwatering pizza photo into my feed. I’ve never clicked their link, but somehow they know enough to continue to show me those pictures.

In the world of food advertising, beautiful pictures are the coin of the realm. If you can make the prospect salivate, odds are they’ll buy.

What if we applied this principle to our products and services? Notice that the DiGiorno ads feature pizza. That’s so simple, and so obvious, or is it? They don’t feature pizza ovens, or pictures of pizza chefs. They don’t show a kitchen in Italy, or Brooklyn, or Chicago, nor do they mention any other foods peddled by their owner, international food conglomerate Nestlé.

Check out DiGiorno’s website. All you see is pizza. Check out their packaging. All you see is pizza.

Promote Your Specialty

If all this seems obvious, why do you have pictures of presses on your brochure? Why are there pictures of your staff on your home page? I’m not insisting you carry things as far as DiGiorno, but do remember what you are selling. People aren’t buying your staff. They darn sure aren’t buying your printing presses. And they aren’t buying your plant.

They want to see what you do. Your printed products may not be mouthwatering like pizza, but an accurate representation of your specialty should be the highlight of your marketing. If a prospect needs your product, their mouths will water.

Now here’s a catch. I’ve never purchased a DiGiorno frozen pizza. Does that mean that their advertising strategy is a failure? I don’t think so. There is more to marketing than an immediate sale.

First, DiGiorno has accomplished awareness of their brand. Remember, I’m a guy who eats pizza but never buys frozen pizza. If I get a pizza jones on, say, a Monday (when pizza parlors in my area are traditionally closed) I now know that frozen pizza is an option.

Secondly, they’ve created openmindedness. Me, a pizza purist, buy a frozen pizza? Never! Well, maybe I’ll consider it, after drooling at DiGiorno’s tasty photos.

Thirdly, they’ve created preference. If I ever do buy a frozen pizza, it will be DiGiorno. Price won’t even be a consideration. That’s an amazing accomplishment.

More subtly, DiGiorno’s regular advertisements keep me in the mood for pizza. What shall I have for dinner tonight? Shall I grill a steak? Grill a fish? Make a salad from the garden? Ah, there’s that luscious DiGiorno’s ad. I’ll order a pizza from my favorite local pizzeria. No, DiGiorno’s didn’t make a sale, but as long as my preference for dinner remains pizza they have a chance to sell me in the future. Once I decide that hamburgers are my food of choice the door on their product slams shut.

I exert a lot of marketing effort convincing prospects that printed communications have more value than their electronic counterparts. That doesn’t mean I win every order. Once I’ve made my case, I still lose some projects to a lower bidder. No matter. I’ll win them back eventually with quality, service, accuracy and speed.

If, on the other hand, the prospect decides to replace a print publication with email or a PDF, everyone loses, and I may never get another chance.

Now there’s some food for thought.