Spot Light | Domino’s Pizza
For a junk food brand to talk about relationships sounds cheesy
No brand recall
Reviewer: Anil Thomas
Anil Thomas, regional creative director, McCann Worldgroup, has 16 years’ experience in advertising. He has worked on campaigns for brands such as TVS Motor, Tata Tea, Britannia and ITC Foods.
Campaign
Fast food company Domino’s Pizza’s television commercial (TVC) by Contract Advertising features its latest offering, Cheesy Boloroni Pizza. The ad shows a newly-married couple on their honeymoon in Goa. While eating pizza, they start to talk, and the husband begins to get to know his wife, which he says is better than discovering Goa. The tag line: Yeh Hai Rishton ka Time.
(Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd is the master franchisee for Domino’s in India. The promoters of HT Media Ltd, which publishes the Hindustan Times and Mint, and Jubilant are closely related. There are no promoter cross-holdings.)
The first reaction of an advertising person to a commercial is always as an advertising person and rarely as a consumer (of the product). So my initial reaction is that it is a sweet commercial, in the kind of ads Cadbury Dairy Milk would do.
The ad could be perceived as ‘cheesy’. Is that what the brand wanted to achieve with the TVC?
It wasn’t cheesy, not as much as the pizza itself. Though a couple getting cheesy on their honeymoon is interesting. If that was the intent, the result is not so. If the intent was “being cheesy", the writer could have really gone large and maybe (drafted) a more edgy commercial. But somebody would have said, hey, it is aimed at the family, go easy on the cheesy.
It’s unusual to use a honeymooning couple for a pizza advertisement...
It’s interesting for a junk food brand to get into the “relationship" space. They seem to be suggesting take more time to eat the pizza, and you will get more time to know each other. A bit hopeful and far-fetched, though. For a junk food brand to talk about relationships does sound cheesy. What’s next then? Kellogg’s ke nashte mein paayein maa ka chupa hua pyaar (Find mother’s love in a breakfast of Kellogg’s)?
Who is the TVC targeted towards?
For young working couples, I suppose. With their busy lives, sometimes a takeout would seem like a good idea… But if you are honeymooning in Goa, why would you want to eat a pizza? Hop on to a scooter, find a Martin’s type of a restaurant and enjoy Goan cuisine. People will love the ad, but won’t remember the brand in recall due to low relevance and connect.
Any other TVC in this category you recall?
Tana na na ri, oh pizza aye free. The Paresh Rawal ad was a great one. If you don’t get your pizza in 30 minutes, you will get it free. What happened to those?
As told to Aminah Sheikh.
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