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Reality check: Twitter and Naked Pizza
There's a fair amount of Twitter backlash right now. That's to be expected considering how much attention is lavished on the service even though it still has a rather small user base, albeit one that's growing faster than pretty much anything on the Web. And there is a Second Life quality to some marketing that includes Twitter. You get the feeling it's more of a PR ploy than a real method to connect with consumers, like the corporate islands that were launched with such fanfare on Second Life a couple years ago. Take the "news" that Naked Pizza, which counts among its investors New Orleans ad agency Trumpet, now has its Twitter account name in its sign. That was enough to merit a TechCrunch post (probably a first for a pizza parlor), not to mention gobs of Twitter chatter. One thing missing from the breathless coverage: the fact that New Orleans has only a few thousand Twitter users, as pointed out by @TomMartin. Sure enough, Naked Pizza has 1,600 followers, plenty of whom are nowhere near the Bayou. Take, for example, Naked Pizza follower German Marin, a service engagement manager at Microsoft Chile. Expect more of this as companies look for quick PR hits instead of doing the hard work of figuring out an overarching strategy that may or may not involve everyone's social-media darling. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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April 27, 2009 in Reality check | Permalink |
Comments
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Brian - you seem to miss the point. We are "building" our twitter following and trying to position ourselves so that as "more" New Orleans people flock to Twitter we are "at least" on the radar. You may be surprised to know that we actually generate an interesting amount of business from Twitter already in our limited delivery area (restricted one section of Uptown New Orleans). You neglected to mention that we have hundreds of followers from New Orleans. As for a quick PR stunt. We did not erect our Twitter board so that we could get picked up by Tech Crunch (whom I never heard of by the way until Friday 2:00 PM). We erected the sign so that we could notify the 35,000 cars that drive by our store everyday that we are on Twitter and if u r as well, plz follow. We are about to place our Twitter handle on 10,000 pizza boxes and will be part of our direct mail campaign - mailing 15,000 pieces every month. So, before you start talking about what other people are doing, you might do a little homework and send us an email with a question or two - might make your postings a little more accurate.
info@nakedpizza.biz
Posted by: nakedpizza | Apr 27, 2009 11:46:26 AM
I think you misconstrued the point of the post. It's about the disproportionate amount of attention given initiatives like this. TechCrunch is a national publication ostensibly covering Silicon Valley and technology. We can both agree that it's unusual for it to take such an interest in local pizza marketing. The post was tweeted and retweeted to death. Why? Mostly, in my opinion, because it's a novelty and everyone likes to Twitter about Twitter. Sounds like you feel the tool is a great way to reach the 1% of your customer base that uses it.
Posted by: Brian Morrissey | Apr 27, 2009 12:08:53 PM
how do u know only 1% of our customer base uses it? you quoted @TomMartin from new orleans as your source that only a few thousand people were on twitter in new orleans. however, your data source (twellow.com) is flawed in that it only counts the people "who have signed up for twellow" - which, does not represent the ttl number of people on twitter in new orleans - not even close, i would predict.
how do u know the size of our customer base? plz stop making assumptions.
Posted by: nakedpizza | Apr 27, 2009 1:03:05 PM
show us a little luv today brother - starting to think u don't like us. peace out.
Posted by: nakedpizza | Apr 27, 2009 1:04:47 PM
Also worth noting that the core mission of Naked Pizza is global -- Nutrition, health care crisis, government food industry subsidies etc. The other day, one of the founders of Naked Pizza called it the "squiggly light bulb of fast food." We'll see. Social entrepreneurship begins at the grassroots. We're not naive about the value of promotion, but pretty conscious about the balance of style and substance. Dialogue figures in. Final note; New Orleans is the garage. Stay tuned.
Posted by: Robbie Vitrano | Apr 27, 2009 1:18:04 PM
It's also worth keeping in mind that hundreds of thousands of "tech savvy" visitors come through New Orleans every year for conventions, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, etc. and would be more than happy to already have their pizza place lined up, while getting to practice their twitter love.
Posted by: Max Bean | Apr 28, 2009 11:22:33 AM
