Blaze Pizza Case Study

Challenge:
A nationally recognized, fast casual pizza chain serving up build-your-own pizzas, Blaze Pizza had experienced rapid growth and built cult-like followings with over 100 restaurant openings across the country. In early 2016, SPARK Strategic Ideas was approached by the franchisees who were getting ready to open the first Blaze Pizza location in Charlotte, NC and were up against introducing a new brand to the market—a market that isn’t always open to non-local restaurant newcomers—and standing out from other similar “fast-fire” pizza concepts.

Solution:
SPARK was “fired up” for the challenge and got to work with building a Blaze media list. Then it was time to create a unique, 3D media invitation to hand-deliver to our top-tier contacts to call attention and create excitement. The SPARK team conceived the idea to print the invitation directly onto a wooden pizza peel and cover it with a custom, peel-off adhesive graphic printed to look like a pizza laying on the peel.

Blaze corporate did not have an existing media kit, so SPARK wrote and designed a version, including “fast” facts, to use as handouts at an exclusive media preview event. After the media event, SPARK’s next task was to get the word out and manage a Free Pizza Day event for the grand opening where Blaze served free pizzas from open to close.

In addition to the media preview and grand opening, SPARK also planned a private, social influencer event through Yelp with guests treated to free pizza and entertainment. Taking the “fast-fire’d” tagline to the extreme, SPARK secured performers for fire breathing, fire throwing and fire dancing on the outdoor patio.

Results:

Starting with a “coming soon” news release and followed by a creative media invitation delivery, Blaze quickly made a mark in the minds of Charlotte media and consumers. The pizza peel invitations were not only a hit with media contacts, but SPARK also received a silver American Advertising Award from the Charlotte AAF chapter.

Through numerous broadcast, online and social media placements (including WCNC, WJZY, Charlotte Five, Charlotte Agenda and Charlotte Business Journal), Free Pizza Day saw a line down the street for lunch and dinner. At the end of the day, over 1,300 pizzas were served! For the social influencer event, SPARK filled the restaurant to capacity, and the Yelp community manager called it one of their most fun events for the year.

The Blaze Pizza introduction to Charlotte was so successful that the franchisees retained SPARK to do their Asheville, NC opening in 2016 as well as their second Charlotte location and Concord, NC openings in 2017.