In response to Erik's post: Are Diner Ad place mats clever?

   I found this posting to be interesting because I’ve been in the same situation. Looking at some placemats in diners and restaurants that are covered with mostly local businesses, I usually think nothing of it. The idea of adding a type of trivia game to the mats is an effective way to get someone to look at the advertisements, while they wait for their meal. I think that advertising on placemats is very effective because its cheap and will usually advertise toward locals, who are typically close to the advertiser’s business. Though usually some of these placemats may go unnoticed I believe that a game will make more people notice the ads.

Have you ever seen other interesting or clever advertising ideas?

Domino's Promotional Strategy

After hearing recent class discussions about focus groups I remembered how recently Domino’s Pizza had used  “actual” focus groups in some of their commercials. After reviewing the commercials, I found that the advertisements were used to show how Domino’s Pizza is working to improve their pizza, according to customer criticism. In the commercials I also noticed other methods of marketing research such as online surveys and social networking sites that Domino’s has used to improve their food. The purpose of showing these complaints (in advertisements) was to demonstrate to customers that any consistent dissatisfaction Domino’s observed in the their market research would be dealt with.

   I believe that these advertisements were effective in helping promote Domino’s Pizza. In the past they were receiving a lot of complaints about their pizza, and realized that they needed to do something about it. The advertisements clearly show how they are improving their Pizza to fit customer needs. In one of the focus group commercials, it showed a group discussing the quality of ingredients. Domino’s then unveiled that the location of the group was actually on a farm that provides Domino’s with natural ingredients. Another example was a focus group complaining that the Pizza feels machine made, where then Domino’s again revealed that the location of the group was in a Domino’s kitchen, where staff were hand tossing the pizza dough. I believe that these commercials were a great promotional strategy. They commercials show how they are listening to customers and trying to meet their needs. I thought that the incorporation of the focus group made the commercials seem genuine and realistic.

Do you believe that the Domino’s Focus Group commercials were affective?

(YouTube Domino’s focus group to view)