Last week while I was studying and Dane was watching football (like usual) we received a call from Dane's sister, Chrissy. She called to tell us about her exciting weekend which started out by responding to an advertisement looking for workers to participate in a "pizza tasting." She showed up to this pizza tasting and was chosen as a "final pizza tester" the following day.
The next day, Chrissy showed up to the designated location and was taken in a limo to an undisclosed location with three other people. Before getting into the limo, an employee told the "pizza testers" that they would not have contact with the driver until they reached the location and they would not be able to ask questions, etc. 45 minutes later, Chrissy and her fellow "pizza testers" were getting worried about what they got themselves into when they were finally let out of the limo.
At this point, Chrissy said they were told to beware of the construction zone they were stepping into (she didn't go into detail about the location but said they were in the in a rural area- not too uncommon in Santa Barbara County). As soon as they stepped out of the limo, a loud drill went off and scared everyone. They were then led into an empty room with three way mirrors on one wall and sat down. The "pizza tasters" were asked what they would say if they were told that Domino's pizza used fresh spinach... and they took turns responding and mostly saying that they were doubtful of this claim. After everyone responded -and at this point I'm sure that I'm not delivering the story with the drama and excitement that she did- three of the 4 walls of the room collapsed and they were in the middle of a spinach field. Then... the Domino's employee said something along the lines of "Domino's gets there fresh spinach directly from this field!!!"
Needless to say, the "pizza tasters" were shocked to find out that they were in a Domino's commercial that was based on capturing the "Average Person's" response to finding out that Domino's used fresh ingredients.
I know this story was a bit off topic from our segmentation conversation this week (though I'm sure she was picked for the commercial because she fit the demographic they were targeting) but I thought this story was fascinating because it gives us a behind the scenes look at making a commercial. Clearly, the marketing team put a lot of effort not only into how customers would receive this low-involvement testimonial but also into deceiving the "pizza testers." The "pizza testers" were made to feel vulnerable and scared (the drill noise and not knowing where they were going) which clearly enhanced the shock they felt when the walls of the room came flying down. In addition, I was surprised to hear that these commercials used "real people." I've seen advertisements that made these claims before but, unless it was for a serious issue (definitely not Domino's) I never considered that the people in the ads were anything BUT actors....
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