Inside Boston Pizza’s Quebec strategy

To help build out brand awareness for Boston Pizza in Quebec, the restaurant chain is bringing back its favourite French comedian Louis Morissette to head up a year-long marketing push.

The spots, which will air on TV, feature Morissette hosting a talk show, chatting up “guests” about Boston Pizza’s offering. In the first spot, it turns out his guest has never heard of Boston Pizza – despite its diverse menu. French comedy ensues.

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The goal of the campaign is to emphasize the wide variety of menu items at the restaurant, says Julie Dionne, marketing director for Quebec. The size of the menu – which provides food options beyond just pizza or sports bar fare – is the brand’s differentiating factor when it comes to the competition, she says, and is a message they’ve been growing for the past few years.

This year, they brought that front and centre. The current spot will run for the next few weeks, and will be pulsed out with new creative built on the same idea (Morissette hosting a talk show with Quebecers who’ve never been to the restaurant before), over the next year.

The primary target for the campaign is families, Dionne says, however sports fans are also a big draw for the chain.

Zip Communications handled the creative while Touche!PHD took care of the media buy, she adds.