Little Caesars is kicking off 2021 with a big campaign but, unlike last year, it won’t be running a spot during the Super Bowl.
In 2020, Little Caesars opted to air its first Big Game ad, which focused on the addition of delivery and featured actor Rainn Wilson.
The spot, from McKinney, helped elevate brand awareness and the idea that Little Caesars, known for decades as a carryout chain, has a strong delivery game too.
“I think you’ve got to have something really important to say.” says Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Klein, who helped convinced the family-owned chain to spend on the Super Bowl in 2020. “We’re not a brand that has a problem with unaided awareness.”
Last year, when it had the delivery message to announce, it made sense to fork over a few million dollars for air time. Now, it’s taking a different approach, Klein says on the latest episode of Ad Age’s “Marketer’s Brief” podcast.
“I’d love to get back,” Klein says of the Super Bowl, but “this year, we’re going to sit this one out.”
This week, Little Caesars is out with a new campaign taking on “Big Pizza,” an extreme representation of a fictional corporation that’s out to win with overpriced pies. While it doesn’t bash real-life competitors such as Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut or Papa John’s, Little Caesars has come up with an approach that emphasizes a value message as being different from the fake rival that even has a slice-shaped boardroom table.
“We’re not Big Pizza, we’re Little Caesars,” the voiceover in the spot says.