(For more information on the following story, contact James Lowry by E-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (765) 285-5180.)
PIZZA WARS INTENSIFY WITH LATEST ADS BY PIZZA HUT
MUNCIE, Ind. -- In the midst of an intense pizza war, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are spending millions in marketing to outdo the other, says a Ball State University marketing expert.
The rivals are even mentioning each other by name -- once against basic marketing rules - in an attempt to dominate the $25 billion pizza industry.
"This is an all-out war and you do anything to win it," said James Lowry, a marketing professor. "When you don't have a lot of competition, you can take the high road and just point out how good your product is.
"When you have lots of competition, as there is with pizza, you attack your opponent," he said. "The old rule of not naming your competition in advertising has fallen by the wayside. Now, you just attack."
Lowry said naming the competition in advertising is routine, dating back to the "Pepsi Challenge" more than a decade ago when consumers wore blindfolds while testing Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Today, Cadillac refers to its counterpart Lexus in the American luxury car sales area.
"Usually, the smaller or newer company will bring attention to its product by having a consumer test," Lowry said. "When you are battling a bigger company, you want to draw all the attention away from the competitor."
Dallas-based Pizza Hut bills itself as the world's largest pizza restaurant company with more than 7,100 restaurants and delivery units in the U.S. and 3,000 international outlets in 86 countries.
Papa John's chief executive officer is John Schnatter, a 1983 Ball State graduate. The Louisville-based firm has 466 company-owned outlets and 1,314 franchised stores in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Papa John's plans to add 400 more restaurants in each of the next two years.
The pizza wars have intensified recently in the battle for the multi-billion dollar delivery and restaurant industry. Pizza Hut recently won a court battle when a federal judge ordered Papa John's "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza" false and misleading. The court enjoined the company from ever using that slogan, a recognizable variation and the word "better" in any future marketing campaign.
Lowry points out that several national chains have been forced to revamp their slogans in recent years after charges of false and misleading advertising.
"It really is a case of semantics," he said. "You can say you have the best tasting pizza or even have the lowest prices every day, but it is the consumer who ultimately will make the decision of who is better."
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Lowry by E-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (765) 285-5180. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news on the World Wide Web.)
Marc Ransford
2/8/00
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