New CPK ad campaign scales adventurous heights

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 13, 1995 by Mark Hamstra

LOS ANGELES - Now that the popular American Express advertising campaign that also helped promote California Pizza Kitchen is over, the 76-unit fupscale pizza chain is testing an oblique campaign of its own.

Without showing pictures of the pizzeria's unusual toppings or sleek interiors, the company's first full-scale, marketwide promotion attempts to position 1CPK as an "adventurous" dining destination."

"We wanted to try to communicate the whole concept," said Sarah Goldsmith, vice president of advertising and public relations. "We feel it's the entire experience people have at CPK, not just the food."

Before the latest campaign, the chain relied on word of mouth and public relations to promote the brand. CPK was able to generate publicity merely by sending local newspapers copies of the menu that included such toppings as shrimp scampi and Peking duck.

For its inaugural TV campaign, however, the chain and its agency, Ruben Postaer of Los Angeles, market the "sense of discovery" that comes with the menu, not the menu itself.

The television spots and posters display an "adventure meter" picturing a tame scenario on one end and a more dangerous scenario on the other. The CPK logo is shown registering toward the more dangerous side.

In one of the commercials, an elderly man swimming in a pool is pictured at the low end of the meter. At the other end of the scale a diver in a shark cage is shown getting a close-up look at a thrashing great white.

The CPK logo appears on the scale just a bit less adventurous than the shark attack, but decidedly more adventurous than the guy in the pool.

The voice-over tells viewers that "California Pizza Kitchen features 27 varieties of wood-fired pizza, leaning slightly toward the adventurous side." Printed under the meter is the campaign's tag line, Your pizza's ready. Are you?"

"In a way it's kind of a challenge, a call to action," said Gary Wenzel, senior vice president at Rubin Postaer.

"It's kind of that welcomed middle ground that's neither too in-your-face nor too complacent," he said.

Wenzel said the American Express television commercials and print ads, which featured the chain's founders and hinted about the menu, not only generated consumer interest in the concept but also sparked the company's interest in advertising.

"I think the [American Express] ads gave them a little blip in terms of sales," he said. "It opened the owners up to what advertising can do."

CPK is testing the "adventure" campaign, which kicked off Oct. 25, in its 10-store Washington, D.C., market.

"We just completed some new units there," said Goldsmith, "and we wanted to see if this could build business in those units and see what effect it would have on business at the older units."

The company conducted pre-campaign brand awareness studies, to be compared with post-campaign studies after the cable and radio spots conclude in mid-November. The subway and bus poster campaign will continue through the first week of January.

Goldsmith said the chain has no plans yet to roll the promotion to other markets. Washington is the company's second-largest market, next to Los Angeles.