The first, of what will likely be a couple, branded pizza-ordering application is now available for your iPhone. Pizza Hut has achieved the coveted “first mover” advantage into this space, with an app offering that allows users to order pizza and play the “Hut Racer” game while they wait.
Pizza Hut's iPhone application
While iPhone has only 11% of the market share, its tech savvy users are an ideal target for Pizza Hut because it’s very likely these people will actually use the application. Using a phone application to order food creates a certain “cool” or “cutting edge” feeling that will be both contagious, and addicting, for its users. It also gets rid of a few problems.
Ordering food happens to be one of my favorite things to do. I would go as far as to say I’m an expert (specializing in the NWDCarea). I love to order food because it’s delicious and I don’t have to cook it for myself. However, I also hate ordering food because it’s often difficult to communicate your order to the vendor and mistakes are sometimes made in the ordering process. The emergence of online ordering, and now phone application ordering, eliminates this human error (and interaction..).
Along with the application, consumers can also text and “Facebook” (verb) orders to Pizza Hut to place them. I’ve already written about Twitter-restaurants and am sitting here wondering what the next step could possibly be. Is there a good chance that picking up a phone to order could turn into a thing of the past? Probably. Unless you’re picking up the phone to order through an application, of course.
Have you been keeping up with the food-ordering trends? Would the Pizza Hut app be something you would use? What’s your favorite way to order?
Author’s Note: Having been born and raised on Elmhurst’s own Roberto’s pizza, I feel bad for anybody that has to order from thesechains, but this application should help ease your suffering.
The “business world” is often defined using a Darwinian approach: “survival of the fittest”. And “survive” is exactly what Yellow Pages has learned to do. An unmistakable trend towards Google and other internet based search engines have led many to believe that the Yellow Pages would go out of business. However, this is not the case.
Yellow Pages has responded to its competitor’s pressure by adding a whole lot of value to their service. The “Yellow Pages Guarantee“, or “Super Guarantee“, essentially removes all risk involved for consumers searching for a service. According to Yellow Pages’ site, all you have to do is “Register your service appointment with a participating business in advance for free and in the unlikely event you have a problem with the provider, we will help you resolve the issue or reimburse you up to $500 of any amounts paid to the provider for the labor portion of the services provided.” Not a bad way to stick around.
The service is available through their websites, as well as their print phonebooks, but I believe the key to the guarantee’s success will be its online availability. Consumers have grown accustomed to searching for information online, through Google or Yahoo, and reaching them through this channel is crucial. In doing so, Yellow Pages is now providing a similar search experience, with a $500 satisfaction guarantee. It is also highly unlikely its competitors will try and imitate this service.
The lesson that can be learned from Yellow Pages is you must be willing to adapt to the environment around you. Yellow Pages could have stuck with the phonebook service it was founded as, but they were willing to change, and sacrifice (up to $500 a pop), to improve the service they were offering.
On top of the guarantee, Yellow Pages also expanded and has a Blackberry application, one that I unknowingly downloaded but actually find very useful. Wonder if they’ll run the guarantee through their application in the future?
While there is not going to be a full-length Microsoft movie or Microsoft 2010 for Windows, the technology giant’s most recent viral push (using commercial/viral video guru Dennis Liu to direct) is considerably more entertaining than all of the “I’m a PC” ads combined.
Under Liu’s direction, Microsoft’s “trailer” previews a situation where a hacker releases a “rogue file” on the internet, where viewers of the file believe everything they read. The video combines the old, with promises of a new “Outlook” and OneNote for the future of Microsoft.
The witty video is just a promo for Microsoft, but may be more productive than many of its actual advertising campaigns. Liu’s video could work wonders in helping Microsoft compete with the “cool” image Apple and their users pride themselves on.
Microsoft is far from the first client Liu has created a funny, clever ad for. Companies such as Nike, CareerBuilder, MTV, Berlitz, and Wendy’s have all hired Liu for videos (commercial or viral). His ability to create videos that are genuinely funny, not cheap laughs like many of the Bud Light ads, provide brands and companies with a more tasteful approach to humor.
The above video is the “Interviewing Help” series Liu did for CareerBuilder.com. Not only do the ads illustrate the need for the service in a hilarious manner, they do it by creating a situation everybody can relate to. I believe maintaining good taste while using humor is the key to the video’s success. While some viral videos rely heavily on being vulgar, I think the more tasteful ads have an advantage by achieving wider appeal.
What are some funny ads you have seen lately? What about viral/promo videos? What about failed attempts at humor in advertising/viral videos?
Doritos’ new campaign promoting its “Late Night” taco chips is an outstanding blend of new marketing methods. It introduces an innovative use of packaging, ties it in with Doritos’ website and internet marketing, and, to top it off, aids in the launch of Blink 182’s summer tour.
The packaging encourages consumers to use the bag as a means of entry to the Doritos Late Night website. Once on the site, chip eaters will be able to view a virtual 3D concert, playing songs by Blink 182 and Big Boi.
On top of the unprecedented creativity and the music/technology combo, the Late Night chips are a great product. The “concert bags” are only going to run for a limited time, but should see outstanding results.
I believe the key factor in the success of Doritos’ campaign will be the use of music in the branding and advertising effort. It can be assumed, through the dark packaging and use of Blink 182, that Doritos is trying to reach teenage/young adult males. This demographic has been successfully reached in the past using similar efforts. For example, Mountain Dew achieved its “extreme” and “cool” positioning through ads using rock music and related technology to reach young males.
I can’t tell if the bag, the return of my favorite band, or some combination of the two is what’s exciting me right now, but I do know I am going to buy a bag and try this 3D concert thing out.
Can you remember any examples of innovative marketing efforts? Do you think music is a good way to help brand a product?
After spending the last six months on hold, Subway has decided to launch its campaign with 14-time Olympic gold medalist spokesman, Michael Phelps.
Subway, who intended on launching the campaign several months ago, decided to hold off when a photo of Phelps partying in South Carolina surfaced. The campaign has launched almost a year after Phelps’ dominating performance in the Olympics, but Subway believes his popularity has not diminished.
While many believed the incident would cost Phelps millions in endorsement deals, Phelps only lost his contract with Kellogg’s, which was far from his largest. The brands that chose to stick with Phelps, including Subway, are helping to solidify Phelps’ place towards the top of the endorsement elites.
If Phelps continues on his current path, he may soon find himself among the Jordans, Tigers, and LeBrons of the advertising world. His ability to rebound from several past mistakes are beginning to give him an auora of invincibility in terms of his marketing appeal.
Do you think Michael Phelps will continue to flourish as a spokesman? Has his previous mistakes changed how you view him or the products he endorses? What athletes/celebrities do you believe are “invincible” in terms of their mass appeal?
