Domino's Pizza Gets Payback from Apprentice
Domino's Pizza paid an enormous sum of money for product placement in the "Pandora's Box" episode of The Apprentice last week, only to be upstaged by Papa John's. In the episode, Trump declared that he liked meatballs on his pizza, and coincidentally, both teams decided to make meatball pizzas. Near the end of the episode, Trump announced to Magna that Domino's had decided to sell their winning meatball pie to the masses. Only it turns out cheeseburger pie is a lot cheaper, which is my guess as to why Domino's was pushing that concoction in its two commercials that night. The commercials featured Trump, but were not particularly clever or original. And then there was the Papa John's ad, which aired in 64 local American markets. That ad was clever and attention-getting.
The placement was ideal -- after the task, and before the boardroom. Papa John's founder and chairman John Schnatter is in a boardroom, and asks, "Why eat a pizza made by an apprentice when you can have a spicy meatball pizza from the pros at Papa John's?" Which brings us to the second point: Papa John's is selling a meatball pizza. Domino's had paid millions of dollars to advertise meatball pizza, which they didn't even sell. Domino's, idiots. Papa John's, very, clever.
Although Domino's claims they were flattered by Papa John's ad, it seems like they requested payback for it. Their ad this week might have run at a reduced rate (if they had to pay for it at all), but the real payback came in the form of a voiceover lecture delivered by Trump to the gathered candidates:
Gee, Mr. Trump, customers don't want meatball pizza? But you said you like meatball pizza. You must have some freaky, deviant culinary tastes!
So what are viewers to do with these conflicting messages? Customers don't want meatball pizza, but Trump does. Do you want to be like yourself or be like Trump? I've got it easy; I'm a vegetarian. Sorting through the very subtle product placement messages must be hell on the rest of you. Good luck.
The placement was ideal -- after the task, and before the boardroom. Papa John's founder and chairman John Schnatter is in a boardroom, and asks, "Why eat a pizza made by an apprentice when you can have a spicy meatball pizza from the pros at Papa John's?" Which brings us to the second point: Papa John's is selling a meatball pizza. Domino's had paid millions of dollars to advertise meatball pizza, which they didn't even sell. Domino's, idiots. Papa John's, very, clever.
Although Domino's claims they were flattered by Papa John's ad, it seems like they requested payback for it. Their ad this week might have run at a reduced rate (if they had to pay for it at all), but the real payback came in the form of a voiceover lecture delivered by Trump to the gathered candidates:
"And speaking of last week's task, here's something you didn't know. Both teams created meatball pizza. But if you'd done your market research like Domino's did, you would have discovered that customers don't want meatball pizza. What they want is cheeseburger pizza. The lesson: Always pay attention to your customer."
Gee, Mr. Trump, customers don't want meatball pizza? But you said you like meatball pizza. You must have some freaky, deviant culinary tastes!
So what are viewers to do with these conflicting messages? Customers don't want meatball pizza, but Trump does. Do you want to be like yourself or be like Trump? I've got it easy; I'm a vegetarian. Sorting through the very subtle product placement messages must be hell on the rest of you. Good luck.
posted by trill42 at 11:00 a.m.
2 Comments:
Great post. What a conumdrum for The Apprentice! Dominos is on the losing end of this sponsorship for sure. Kudos to the competitors, Papa Johns. It sounds exactly like the kind of tactic Trump himself might praise. Very good marketing. They were out-foxed. What is interesting to me is that it will affect the dynamic fo the show because they are going to have to re-think their pre-show marketing. Again, I say it is a conundrum because they will have to be very careful in how they promote an upcoming episode because everyone out there will be taking a page from Papa John's playbook. In fact, it throws the whole idea of sponsoring The Apprentice into question.
You're so right. Corporations should have a lot more bargaining power in the future, because they can cite what happened here and either say, "I want to pay a lot less because you can't promise this won't happen" or "What assurances can you give me that nothing like this will happen?"
Meanwhile, competitiors will scurry to "pull a Papa John's." Even if they can't manage the same move with massive amounts of local ads in the US, they can try other clever moves by coming out with similar products, etc. I think a lot of people ordered Papa John's pizza recently because they admired what a clever move they made. People might well want to reward other competiting companies, if they think they're being cheeky or smart.
Excellent point about the pre-show marketing too. All that early publicity for each season's sponsors backfires on them if it gives their savviest competitors a lot of time to prepare counter operations. Papa John's did all this in only a week, but something massive could be done with more time. Still, it goes so against the corporate mentality to decline publicity that the sponsors may find it very difficult to even delay it. Domino's should have been smart enough to realize the voiceover was a bad idea, but they couldn't resist more publicity.
All of this reminds me of political campaigns.
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