Last week I was going out to lunch with some co-workers, and on my way to the restaurant I went through the intersection of 23rd and Iowa, which is probably the busiest in Lawrence.
Near the corner was a person in a tomato costume, lethargically waving both hands at passerbys. Hmmm. No signs to advertise why he is there, just a tomato standing on a street corner. As I returned from lunch, Mr. Tomato was still there and still waving, and since I had to pull over into a nearby parking lot to close the hood of my car (which in my clumsiness I had accidentally popped open with my foot getting out of the car at lunch), I decided to try and get a picture of the strange red creature with the very low resolution camera on my Palm Pilot. It was then that I came up with my theory as to why he was there--I was parked in a the parking lot of Cici's Pizza, whose logo sports a small tomato. My question is, is this really an
effective use of advertising dollars? I mean, if someone wasn't already familiar with Cici's logo, would they even make the connection since the tomato wasn't even standing in front of the restaurant? Furthermore, if someone is familiar with the sign, this means they've probably already tried Cici's pizza buffet, which means that they most likely will not be going back unless they only have $5 to their name and need to gorge themselves with as much food as possible on a tiny budget. I think the marketing geniuses that came up with the waving tomato might need to rethink this one.
4 comments:
Let us not forget Cici's other marketing strategy...the weird guy on the corner (no costume) rocking out to music in his headphones, dancing around and playing air guitar (sort of) with a Cici's sign. Yes, we really did see this one time after a KU football game. I didn't want to be anywhere near that guy, let alone at Cici's.
You're right. One trip to Cici's is one trip too many. What is it with sub-par pizza and poor marketing? (Case in point: Little Caesar's.)
Wow...I can't decide if I'm sorry I missed that one or glad I missed that one--it's sounds a little disturbing. Sadly, we actually tried CiCi's TWICE, thinking maybe the upset stomach Chad got afterwards the first time was coincidence. We really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, since we were actually impressed that their salad bar wasn't made up entirely of iceberg lettuce. Regardless, the stomachache was NOT a coincidence, and now Chad has a nickname for that place that I can't even share publicly (but I'll tell you Thursday)! :)
sounds like you'll sharing disgusting stories onn thursday...shame that vikkie won't be there to give a repeat performance of the nursing home incident (using your sink as a prop again of course).
RIIIICKKKK--I must say that Vikkie's nursing home story with our kitchen sink as a prop will go down in history as the all time funniest and most disgusting story ever told. Chad's nickname for Cici's isn't nearly as funny, but remind me to share it the next time we see you guys!
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