Food
Eat with your eyes
Triggering the crave to generate purchases and brand affinity
Marco's Pizza
Entice people who are happy with “good enough” pizza to try a small brand, in a category ruled by giants.
The challenge: We set out to dethrone the top QSR pizza chains and put Marco’s on the national stage despite being outspent by major players.
We studied how Pizza Lovers think and act, and identified patterns and relatable truths about our audience. We leveraged social listening and qualitative research to hear directly from Pizza Lovers about their pizza rituals and behaviors. Through this research, we discovered and validated countless relatable pizza moments that would resonate directly with the audience.
Storytelling to Pizza Lovers
Pizza isn’t functional food, it makes meals special, and life is better with pizza. Our work highlights the lengths Marco's goes to in order to bring pizza to those who love pizza the most.
Getting Creative on Social
The Results: Getting a Bigger Slice
Marco’s is vastly outspent and has much lower comparable brand awareness in the QSR pizza category. Our team focused on a smarter approach to make the most out of a limited budget.
The results prove that the Pizza Lover campaign is driving positive sales and traffic results compared to the competition, while also winning over the hearts and minds of pizza lovers across the U.S.
Marco's same store sales comps were 100% higher than the next closest competitor.
Marco’s rose to the No. 5 chain in the QSR pizza category; plus it ranked as a Top 5 QSR brand in the Harris Poll for brand equity.
The brand surpassed $1 Billion in annual systemwide sales while achieving record-breaking growth.
Merge has been a key partner to the acceleration of Marco's to one of the fastest-growing national pizza brands. Their partnership in developing breakthrough creative and strong national media strategy is priceless to our team.
Chris Tussing, CMO, Marco’s Pizza
Land O’ Frost
For Land O’ Frost Bistro Favorites we brought premium to the food photography, taking the product out of the pack and onto the plate.
We studied how Pizza Lovers think and act, and identified patterns and relatable truths about our audience. We leveraged social listening and qualitative research to hear directly from Pizza Lovers about their pizza rituals and behaviors. Through this research, we discovered and validated countless relatable pizza moments that would resonate directly with the audience.
