With sponsorship of the Montreal Canadiens as a compelling hook, Toronto-HQ’d Pizza Pizza announced a plan to boost its profile in Montreal, plus the number of franchised restaurants there, which now stands at 13. As well as becoming one of the iconic hockey team’s official partners, Pizza Pizza is now the exclusive pizza vendor at seven concession counters for all events at the Bell Centre – home ice for the Canadiens.
Beyond its presence at the concession counters – where extra staff has been hired to query customers about how they like Pizza Pizza’s products, and what changes, if any, they’d prefer – the company will be highly visible at all home games and special events, VP/marketing director Pat Finelli tells MiC. ‘We’ll (have signage) on the score clock and the rink board in the corner, as well (having ads) in the programs and commercials (during play-by-play announcing), in both French and English.’
Finelli says additional advertising and promotion won’t commence until after feedback from local focus groups, which will be conducted over the next two or three months, is analyzed. Montreal’s Torchia Communications is handling that process as well as PR and media relations. ‘Later on, we will get their recommendations on who in the Montreal area we should get to handle the media and creative. For now,’ he adds, referring to the radio and TV jingle that’s so familiar to Torontonians, ‘we’re very happy that we managed to get 514.737.1111 as our phone number.’
