Arena BLM
Domino's Pizza
Television's evolution drives pizza sales

When Arena BLM signed a contract with Sky in 1998 for Domino's Pizza to sponsor The Simpsons, the agency knew the deal had huge potential.

Most Simpsons viewers were regular consumers of takeaway food, and The Simpsons was shown on national TV every day of the week at dinner-time. Nevertheless, the sponsorship deal was a huge gamble for Domino's, costing 95% of the brand's advertising budget.

Ten years on, the success of the campaign has been spectacular. Sales have increased more than 10% each year from 1997 to 2007 and Domino's has increased its number of UK stores from 125 to 507. The campaign is consistently used as an example of best practice TV sponsorship and has won four IPA awards.

This is a TV-only planning strategy that has not just sold pizza, it effectively built the business in the UK and, hence, was unanimously voted the Grand Prix winner.

The success of the campaign is even more impressive considering that the restrictive advertising laws around foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar meant that Arena BLM couldn't show the product on screen and could only talk about it indirectly, hence the slogan "a fresh slice of family life delivered in 30 minutes". Initial figures for 2008 show sales are up by more than 13%.

The campaign has proved that an association with a fun and popular TV show can give life to a fledgling brand. The Simpsons provided Domino's with personality and charm - the traits large American food brands were felt to be lacking during the late '90s, when the majority of UK consumers preferred to buy takeaways from local pizza and kebab shops.

In 2005, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening himself made a Domino's commercial featuring Homer Simpson tucking into a pizza.

Domino's TV marketing has expanded to 26 weeks of advertising a year, but it has kept its association with the show throughout, securing sponsorship of The Simpsons on Channel 4 in 2006.