Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 20, 1995 TAG: 9506210047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Winning a new account might bring tears of joy to some advertising account executives, but representatives of Roanoke's Packett Group Inc. were shedding tears of a different sort Monday over the Papa John's Pizza account.
"They spent today learning the product," said Ann Andrews, who manages the Papa John's Pizza on Williamson Road. Two Packett representatives began two days of hands-on training in her store by peeling and slicing five pounds of onions. Today they'll work the ovens and cash register and deliver orders.
"It's amazing how much physical labor goes in to this," said Bruce Thomasson, Packett account supervisor. He pointed to a large, table-mounted can opener that Cindy Haynes, Packett media director, was using. "I mean, look at that thing," he said. "It's not electric."
"You can tell they aren't really used to hard work," Papa John's shift supervisor Edward Flint said. "They didn't really have too much for today, a slow Monday, but they caught on."
The intent of putting advertising reps in the kitchen, said Ellen Hamilton, Papa John's regional marketing manager in Louisville, Ky., is to familiarize the people who will be marketing the product with all its aspects, ultimately producing a more cost-effective ad campaign.
Although Packett will not produce any of the pizza chain's advertising, Hamilton said, the agency will help develop a marketing strategy, including local promotional activities, and will purchase advertising time and space with local media.
As Papa John's continues to grow, it has increasingly turned to this localizing strategy, Hamilton said, as a means of developing the identity of the locality in which its stores operate.
"They're sort of like my eyes and ears," Hamilton said, adding that Papa John's hopes to challenge Pizza Hut and Domino's for a larger share of the market, both locally and nationwide. "They have all the local contacts and also help me keep track of the competition."
The strategy, said Roanoke advertising executives, is not new.
"No good agency will embark on any campaign without researching the company thoroughly," said Lin Chaff of Lin Chaff Public Relations and Advertising Inc.
That research generally includes a variety of techniques divided into two distinct groups. One type of research makes use of consumer focus groups and industry-wide statistical data, Chaff said. The other type includes face-to-face customer interviews and placing advertising personnel in real work situations in a client's store.
"Tomorrow, they'll get to go face-to-face with the customers," Andrews said. "They'll be flipping dough, making some pizzas and doing some delivery." And yes, she said, they can keep the tips.
by CNB