BRAND WARS Pitch for a bigger slice

A new marketing concept is based on how consumers compare and perceive brands

in minutes of each other and a blind tasting was held. All four companies were judged on tastiest pizza, perceived value per slice, delivery time and overall brand experience. For delivery time, Debonairs came out on top. Roman’s had the best value per slice and Domino’s the tastiest slice. The overall brand experience belonged to Debonairs.

“The project was viewed with some interest and a certain amount of scepticism and possibly a little arrogance,” says Ross. “This exercise was never intended to represent a broad demographic. The social media reach was exceptional, with over 1,2m mentions and counting.” Ross sees long-term value using this new model. “The experi- ment aimed to provide an objective snapshot of the reality of the holistic brand experience. Today’s consumer is able to formulate opinions faster than ever before and also has the ability through social media to communicate these opinions.”

Ross believes the research concept has commercial potential: “Against current brand apathy we know consumers build huge emotive connections with specific market segments such as retail, consumer electronics and food. We felt the biggest value of this single-sample experiment was to remove barriers around perception.”

He also believes brands need to pay greater attention to the benefits technology brings to the real-time brand experience, something local companies are often slow to embrace: “Tech- Scoring pizzas An experiment to get immediate feedback nology, innovation and a consumer desire for deeper, more engaging, thrilling and memorable experiences has ignited a new trend. Consumers want more fun, escapism and immersion and technology is making this all possible.” Jeremy Maggs

jmaggs@iafrica.com