Pizza Pizza
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- "Pizza! Pizza!" is also an advertising slogan used by Little Caesars, an American pizza restaurant chain.
Pizza Pizza is a Canadian franchise chain of pizza restaurants mainly located in the province of Ontario. It has over 300 locations across the province, including well over one hundred locations in the Greater Toronto Area alone, and claims to be Ontario's number-one pizza chain. As well, a small number of locations operate in western Québec and on some university campuses elsewhere in Canada.
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[edit] History
The chain, founded and owned by Michael Overs, opened its first location in December 1967 at the corner of Wellesley and Parliament Streets in Toronto. It expanded throughout the Toronto area in the 1970s, and throughout the rest of Ontario and parts of Quebec throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Locations operated in the Montreal area, but they were closed in the early 1990s. However, it has apparently only recently begun to study the possibility of expansion in western Canada, first announced in its 2005 IPO filings, which may involve purchasing existing local chains. In October 2006, the chain announced it would renew efforts to expand in the Quebec market, beginning with sponsorship of the Montreal Canadiens. [1]
In 2005, Pizza Pizza opened the first locations of a new chain of chicken restaurants, branded as Chicken Chicken. The new restaurants exist only as co-branded locations with existing Pizza Pizza stores, not as an independent chain.
In 2005, the Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (TSX: PZA.UN), an open-ended trust, completed its initial public offering. Pizza Pizza Limited, which remains privately held by Overs, pays the Fund 6% of the sales for its restaurants in Canada.
Major southern Ontario competitors include Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Little Caesars, Gino's Pizza, 241 Pizza, Double Double Pizza, and Pizza Nova. Two other major Canadian chains, Greco and Panago, which have a presence similar to Pizza Pizza in the Atlantic and Western Canadian markets respectively, have also recently entered the Ontario market.
[edit] Marketing techniques
Pizza Pizza currently uses the self-explanatory slogans "Hot & Fresh" and "Ontario's #1 Pizza!" However, perhaps better known still is the chain's Toronto phone number, (416) 967-1111, the last four digits pronounced "eleven-eleven" to rhyme with "seven". The company claims that its early adoption of the centralized single-number ordering system, and its subsequent use and heavy promotion of this rhyming phone number, helped the chain to grow and soon dominate the southern Ontario pizza market.
In other areas, the local number usually ends in the "7-11-11" pattern to match a standard jingle used in the chain's radio advertisements. Pizza Pizza has also attempted to register "967-1111" and its variants as trademarks. While initially refused, the trademarks were later affirmed by the Federal Court of Appeal.[2]
Besides its memorable jingle, Pizza Pizza has laid claim to being first - or among the first - to:
- place advertising on the spines of telephone directories
- advertise using Post-It notes on newspapers, and via coupons on parking receipts
- use virtual advertising, as one of several such advertisers during Global's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVI
It has also recently secured product placement on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Outside of Ontario, Pizza Pizza has benefited from various pop-culture references. Toronto musicians Moxy Früvous mention it in their song "King of Spain". A chapter of Michael Moore's "Downsize This!" advises illegal immigrants who want to sneak into Canada at Niagara Falls to memorize Pizza Pizza's Toronto number to appear Canadian. Even the company itself has supported the existence of this "True Torontonian" challenge.
"Pizza! Pizza!" is also recognized, primarily in the United States, as the slogan for another pizza franchise, Little Caesars. The companies are not affiliated and in fact compete in many areas of Ontario. Little Caesars has been prohibited from using it as a slogan in Canada, as part of Pizza Pizza's court defense of the trademark and the great possibility of confusion between the two firms.
[edit] Sports promotions
Pizza Pizza is especially well-known for the promotions that they run with local sports teams. In Ottawa, whenever the Ottawa Senators score six goals (the limit was five until the 2005-06 season) and win in a home contest, fans can trade their ticket stubs in for a free slice of pizza at selected Pizza Pizza locations the next day. The promotion has garnered considerable press in the 2005-2006 season as the Senators' strong play has led to free pizza in nearly half of their home contests. This promotion also led to the Senators' high-scoring top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza being called the "Pizza Line" by the Ottawa sports media and many fans.
Similar promotions exists in the Toronto area. For instance, if the Toronto Marlies score five or more goals in a game, all the fans in attendance get free pizza. If the Toronto Raptors score 100 points at a home game, all ticket holders receive one slice of pizza. At all Friday and Sunday Toronto Blue Jays home games, if any combination of Jays pitchers tally at least seven strikeouts (regardless of the outcome of the game), fans can then trade their ticket stubs for the above mentioned free slice of pizza.
Pizza Pizza also had field advertising for the 94th Grey Cup in Winnipeg, despite not having any locations in Manitoba. This was due to its national sponsorship with the Canadian Football League.
[edit] Notes
- ^ It's game on for Pizza Pizza expansion in Quebec market, Pizza Pizza press release, October 11, 2006
- ^ Pizza Pizza Ltd. v. Registrar of Trade Marks (1989), 26 C.P.R. (3d) 355, cited in Trade-Marks Examination Manual (CIPO, 1996). "967-1111" is registered in Canada under registration number TMA428709.
