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Domino’s Pizza retains Contract as its creative agency
The pitch involved Contract and two other agencies, McCann Erickson and DraftFCB Ulka. The brand has earmarked an ad spend of Rs 30 crore for this year, compared to the Rs 20 crore it allotted last year
A few days ago, afaqs! learnt that Domino’s Pizza had called for a creative pitch. The news came as a surprise to many because the brand had been in Contract’s custody for almost six years. But Contract is having the last laugh now because it has retained the Domino’s business.
The pitch involved Contract and two other agencies, McCann Erickson and DraftFCB Ulka. There were rumours in the industry that the business would move to McCann, but Contract was the eventual winner.
Domino’s also hoped to get some fresh ideas and perspectives through the pitch. But finally, it decided to stick with Contract.
When asked about the relationship between Contract and Domino’s, a source close to the development clarified that the pitch did not result from differences between the two and that they shared an amicable working relationship. In fact, the other competing agencies, McCann and DraftFCB Ulka, were informed at the time of the pitch that Domino’s shared an extremely good relationship with Contract and was happy with its delivery.
Dev Amritesh |
Contract won the creative duties of Domino’s from Equus Red Cell in 2002. Maxus (formerly Maximize) was appointed the brand’s media agency at the same time, the media duties shifting from Madison Media.
Actors Arshad Warsi and Paresh Rawal have featured in the communication for Domino’s Pizza. Warsi has also been its brand ambassador.
The brand has earmarked an ad spend of about Rs 30 crore for this year, compared to the Rs 20 crore it allotted last year. In April, Amritesh revealed in a statement that the brand holds 65 per cent market share in the pizza home delivery segment, and 45 per cent market share in the overall Rs 500 crore pizza segment.
Domino’s plans to increase its national footprint in the pizza market, which is estimated to touch Rs 700 crore in 2009. To enable this, it will set up shop in Tier II cities such as Surat, Panipat, Thiruvananthapuram and Jammu. Currently, it has 190 outlets in 34 cities in the country.
Domino’s Pizza flagged off operations in India in 1995, and its first outlet opened in January 1996 in New Delhi.