I was wondering what everyone thinks about advertising by having someone stand out on the side of the road next to your business dressed up in a costume maybe holding a sign or just waving?
It says to me: “We are having financial difficulties”.
Please tell me you are an owner and not another driver…
As I re-open the new place, I need to market beyond the four walls, as the previous owners have completely trashed the business…
We have a new name & are on a busy street…
We door-hang, we’ve done some direct mail & we use coroplast yard signs (good response too!)
We just started a sign-holding campaign & its brought in new customers that didn’t know we were here…
In this market, I need all the exposure I can get…
So, I say, if the sign works, go for it! Make it professional, easy to read & offer value - I’d even consider getting several different sign for several different promos
Get 2 or 3 costumes and have your drivers stand out by the road and wave signs when they don’t have deliveries ready. This way they dont get wet washing dishes and their tips will surely improve if they keep the costume on when they go up to the door to deliver the pizza! 
Quite the opposite. It gets your name out, creates word of mouth buzz, and builds sales. The old world idea of being able to sell pizzas without taking advantage of every opportunity out there is as dead as Cortez.
I guess its all eyes in the beholder. I’d have to agree with Charles, to me it definitely sound like the place is desperate. Around here, the only time I see places that do that type of things are 1) Going out of business sales and 2) Places that have 0 cars in their parking lot in front of their store.
That’s terrible man! :oops: 
…Awww come on now! Don’t you dare show disdain for us drivers… 
…
I wouldn’t do a dish nor touch a mop, let alone stand outside your shop in a clown suit…The way I look at it, the money my boss pays me? Only covers delivering pizzas… 
My bad…I was responding to “perfect pizzas” quoting…“Get 2 or 3 costumes and have your drivers stand out by the road and wave signs when they don’t have deliveries ready. This way they dont get wet washing dishes and their tips will surely improve if they keep the costume on when they go up to the door to deliver the pizza!”
No I am not a delivery driver, I am an owner, my father started the business 27 years ago and I just took over and I am looking at ideas into marketing and advertising, as he has never done any type of formal marketing. I am just throwing ideas around in my head and saw someone dressed up the other day.
In your opinion. I was just stating mine. Around here only some low volume Domino’s, stores going out of business, or other struggling businesses do it. And often they hire some raggedy guy to do it and not their employees.
Add me to the “looks desperate” crowd. Around here I see them for stores going belly-up, and fly by night tax prep. But hey, will you really know what works in YOUR area till you try it? It seems to me the most successful operators are the ones that don’t rely on someone else to determine their path nor do they allow others to limit their potential. If you find a kid willing to wear a chicken suit for a weekend and you increase business…what just happened? If not…it’s a one weekend trial I guess.
attitudes like this is why i hate hiring ppl, if your working in my store you do as i need you to end of story, as a kitchen manager, hell even as a line cook, ive been oven repairmen, plumber, electrician, hood tech. prep cook, dishwasher, cashier, pos tech, computer tech, maybe im spoiled but my crew is willing to do what ever needs to get done to have a good days service, and if anyone isn’t willing to throw down then they are sent packing, the “im better than that” attitude is one of the few things that gets under my skin really quickly. everyone starts at the bottom and works there way up, every once in a while its good to go back where you started to recenter yourself and remember where you came from.
oh yeah back on topic, i see the costumes as a cry for help, door hangers, flyers will blanket alot more area, and leave you looking more professional, although at the same time maybe a good tool to use for whoever is late, or slacked off on there opening/closing duties.
sheb
Attitudes like what?..That I believe as a pizzadriver i’d have my time & dignity wasted putting on a costume to promote your business?..Hey man I’ve always only spoken for myself as a driver…I can tell you I don’t get any mileage pay only a wage of 10.79 an hour & tips…I have an agreement with my boss that my responsibilities are to only deliver pizzas, fold one (10 minutes) pack of boxes per shift & put phones on hold…Anything else I do at the shop I’d do it volunarily…As for myself when its slow? I don’t mind taking phone orders & making pizzas, not that I have to but rather I’d do it because I have nothing else to do…I’ll even go as far as getting on the makeline to bump up my runs when we’re slammed…Then again that too is self serving as it gets me out the door faster with my deliveries…As long as myself & my boss are in agreement of this, I feel I’m doing nothing wrong…As for attitude? I have a great attitude about my job, am always motivated to deliver…That motivation usually pulls me down the most runs & often a nice 25 buck an hour plus average…Surely because its my gas & I produce at my job, my boss loves it…I have a good attitude…
Sorry to stoop to a reply here, but dude. If you worked for me with that crappy attitude, you wouldn’t last long.
If you have no pride in your work and have nothing better to do then why don’t you just quit.
I suppose it does make a difference what the agreement is with your boss. If Dman’e employer has set him a job profile like he has listed then DMans comments aren’t a reflection on a crappy attitude more of a reflection on a crappy boss.
I make it clear to all my guys that they are expected to do their job (clearly defined) but also to do toehr tasks as required by the bsuienss. However, I do not expect anyone to do anything I would not do. Would I dress up in a costume to advertise my business? - no way - very cheap and unprofessional in my books.
I agree that anyone with a costumed person outside their store seems desperate, and also it doesn’t seem classy or professional at all.
Costumed or sign-wielding employees are an eyesore, and do not attract me to a business. Instead, I shy away from it because it seems very low-class.
I also feel sorry for the employee! They always look miserable.
However, on Halloween I think it’s always fun (especially for kids) to give the employees the option of dressing up, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what they are doing. It would mainly be the front desk employees.
There’s a shop in Minneapolis called Galactic Pizza that has their drivers dress as superheros and drive store owned electric cars:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0802/gallery.superhero_pizza.fsb/images/speeding_bullet.jpg
Although my own sense of personal dignity would rule out my working at such a place, I have to say that on the whole I think it’s a great idea, at least the way that they are doing it. I’ll bet that they have a lock on the local kid’s party market…
As to having some guy in a costume with a sign in front of your store? Chalk up another vote for “desperate”, I see a bored looking dude in a costume loafing on the corner and I think either mattress store or shady tax place.
Now, that’s a different type of costume idea. That’s hilarious branding. I would work there! xD
Oh snap! I read about that place in a huge article a couple months ago, the place is crazy busy with deliveries too. I totally forgot about that.
Yep, I think just about anyone who pays attention to the pizza business has at least heard in passing of Galactic, I think that their marketing is genius. Just look at all that free coverage they got, magazine profiles, newspaper articles, I think they even got national TV coverage. How much would all that have cost if he’d had to pay for it? More than some electric cars and superhero outfits? Though not to my personal taste, there are people out there who would like nothing better than to dress up as a super hero and deliver pies to kids, and I can hardly think of a more distinct and visible way of branding your drivers, they aren’t going to be mistaken for anyone else’s. If I recall, the shop owner got some kind of cut rate deal on the electric cars, but he also got onto the “green” bandwagon at just the right time, now people can feel socially conscious whenever they order from him, which for some people is worth paying extra for. I happen to like seeing creativity being rewarded, so I hope that he does well with this unique concept.