Rapidly expanding pizza franchise, Pizza Fusion, has hired a new, boutique, AOR, FRANK., and plans quarterly. The Mix will include spot TV, local cable, Internet, guerilla marketing, local newspapers, regional magazines and local magazines. Opportunistic funds are available. Sales-Fax News spoke with Eric Haley, Director of Communications, and Ms. Katy Livingston, Creative Director, who oversee the marketing for Pizza Fusion, as well as Mr. Brett Malden, CEO of FRANK.
Pizza Fusion’s signature product is organic pizza, thus, the brand is expanding into places where there has been a “proven demand for organic foods,” Haley says. The expansion of Whole Foods Market, the national organic and natural foods’ chain, has been studied by the Advertiser. “We’ve read up on what they do, the process they go through to determine locations,” he explains.
FRANK. has notably worked as a “stealth marketing group” for clients of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, including Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, and Geek Squad, but is a full-service agency that will handle all efforts for Pizza Fusion, Malden says, expressing that, contrary to popular belief, guerrilla, viral and social marketing are “much, much, much more strategic” than traditional media buys.
Pizza Fusion collects 4% of gross proceeds from all franchisees, which is the industry standard, Malden says. Half of these funds are reserved advertising that will be coordinated nationally by 4Q 2008 or 1Q 2009, the other half designated for localized efforts. Pizza Fusion plans to have a national footprint, with 20 locations in key markets, by year’s end, and follow a strategy of doubling in size, each year, until they reach a plateau, with 50 stores by the end of 2009, over 100 by the end of 2010, and 300-500 stores within three to five years, Haley says. Efforts that are national in scope will be targeted, at key markets, with an emphasis on TV and cable spots and Internet, in addition to the guerilla efforts that FRANK. is known for, Malden explains.
Pizza Fusion is not positioning itself to compete with established national chains, such as Domino’s, but rather, caters to a “more sophisticated niche market” that has “opened up a lot of interesting doors in terms of what we can do creatively, in terms of what media we can employ,” Malden says.
The Advertiser’s price point is “a bit higher” than established chains, with $28 to $32 being the average ticket price for a pizza and a couple of drinks, but Livingston emphasizes that “we cater to so many specific groups of people.” The public is becoming more concerned about what is given to children, and this brand could appeal to “anyone who is interested in the environment, and in health,” she says.
The brand caters specifically to those with special dietary needs, including vegans and vegetarians, as well as those who could benefit from a gluten-free diet, namely those suffering from celiac disease and autism. Customers come from as many as 100 miles away specifically for gluten-free pizza, Haley says. Franchisees are encouraged to sponsor non-profit organizations associated with autism, which can “create an ambassador role for that organization,” he notes.
Pizza Fusion is unique not only for its products, a menu that is 75% organic, including sandwiches, salads, desserts, beer and wine, in addition to pizzas, but the environmental friendliness of its corporate culture. All deliveries are made in hybrid cars. Haley provided Sales-Fax News with an extensive fact sheet on Pizza Fusion’s environmental initiatives. All restaurants are built according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. Heat from ovens is recycled to heat the water in the stores. Customers are granted a discount for bringing back a pizza box to be recycled. Pizza peels, plateware and cutting boards are made from bamboo, and glass bottles are reused to manufacture countertops for new locations.
Pizza Fusion was founded in February 2006, and opened its first restaurant in Deerfield Beach, Florida in July 2006. The franchise program was launched in February 2007. The founders, Michael Gordon and Vaughan Lazar, are college friends, who realized that there was a void in the industry, preventing people from eating out organically.
