​Boston Pizza's 60th Anniversary Campaign
When Boston Pizza was created 60 years ago, the founder Gus did the chain no favours by naming it after an American city. This campaign is focused on declaring Boston Pizza's Canadian roots that Canadians are *understandably* confused about.
ASSIgnment:
During a Creative Strategy course at Miami Ad School, we were challenged to enter the National Advertising Competition under the student section and tackle the Boston Pizza brief. We worked in groups and my role in this project was Strategy.
challenge:
Boston Pizza, celebrating its 60th anniversary, faced the challenge of commemorating this milestone while rectifying the common misconception that the pizza chain named after an American city is, in fact, a Canadian company. Why does it matter that Canadians know Boston Pizza is in fact Canadian? Well why does it matter that people know Justin Bieber is Canadian? Or that the discovery of insulin happened in Toronto? Or that basketball was invented by a Canadian? Canada doesn't get enough credit for the inventions, companies, and great people that come from this country. Great things deserve to have their origin story known.
Research Method:
We began with a competitive analysis of the current pizza chain market and created a Positioning Map to gauge competitors' Canadian perception against the casual dining to premium casual restaurant scale. After doing research we realized that despite some casual dining locations in Canada being Canadian, they don’t all leverage this as a part of their identities. Our goal is to shift Boston Pizza into a squarely “Canadian” place.
Key Insights:
Then we began an exploration of the company, consumers (our target aka Canadian families), the category and the culture where we analyzed both pizza culture and Canadian culture. After researching, we established a few insights within these groups that would help guide the direction of our campaign.
-
Company Insight: BP’s strength always has been, and always will be, their hyper local feel for each BP. Even though Boston pizza is a franchise, there are unique differences to each location such as menu items, decor, local team sponsorship selection, etc.
-
Consumer Insight: Being Canadian looks different across each province.
-
Category Insight: Each province has its own distinct style of preferred pizza - that most Canadians are unaware of.
-
Cultural Insight: Major American cities have their own iconic and well known style of pizza, yet major Canadian cities do not.
north star:
Showcase the essence of each provinces local culture to affirm BP's authentic Canadian identity
solution:
Our solution was to launch a hyper-local themed Canadian menu on the 60th anniversary of Boston Pizza that varies from province to province with its own distinctive style of pizza on the menu.
To promote this, on Canada Day Boston Pizza will recreate their oldest commercial with its different pizza options added to the menu instead of what the commercial previously featured. This commercial will be launched on television and on the appropriate social media channels.
Key Metrics:
If we were able to measure the impact of this campaign, measurement criteria would include:
-
Earned impressions, completed views, and social engagement with the ad.
-
Consideration and purchase intent for the hyper-local menu items.
-
Overall brand perception to assess if consumers now recognize Boston Pizza as Canadian.
-
Sales and Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) to evaluate the campaign's business impact.
conclusion:
This campaign strategically positions Boston Pizza as an authentic Canadian pizza chain, dispelling the American association. We believe it celebrates the diverse pizza culture across Canadian provinces, as well as the diverse culture that exists across this beautiful country we Canadians are proud to call home.
​
Team Members: Alexandra Bourget, Diana Medi, Komal Nathani, Priya Ramakrishnan
