Reverse Marketing

Example- Pizza Pizza

Memo to: Mark Bonneau, Vice President of Sales, Ottawa Senators and Corel Centre
From: Bruce Firestone
Date: September 21, 2002
Subject: Sens Exhibition Win 7 to 1 versus Leafs, Friday September 20th, 2002 at the Corel Centre, Ottawa and Pizza Pizza Premium

Mark--

My kids had a great time at the season's first exhibition game last night and especially because the Sens won over their Ontario rivals.

At the end of the game Richard Prioux announced, as he has so many times when the Sens score 5 or more and WIN, 'Present your ticket stubs at a local Pizza Pizza and get one slice free'.

Now this has been a terrific promotion for Pizza Pizza and when I picked up the kids at the Corel Centre-- we went straight to one of their outlets, bought a drink and presented our game tickets for 'free' pizza.

Guess what? They told the kids: "Um, actually, ah, we don't honour that during pre-season...."

Disappointed, they left the shop with their paid-for drink. In any event, I called to query this policy and, after identifying myself (I don't like anonymous complaints), the customer service rep confirmed the decision not to honour the premium.

Now I must say this is reverse marketing in a big way. There are going to be 16,000+ fans in this same space.

By the way, the service rep didn't believe me when I told him who I was (let's just say he was a bit rude about it) and after that I asked for his supervisor-- he told me that they were getting hundreds of calls like this.

Fans are our #1 resource and asset for our team and Pizza Pizza needs to either honour their pledge or just get rid of it-- no one likes 'free' stuff with a catch to it-- "Only for regular season games." "Not in the pre-season." Whatever.

Regards,

Bruce

ps. I would be happy to add here to this example of reverse marketing any clarifications Pizza Pizza may have on this subject; i.e., please feel free to share this with the Company.

To: Jacqueline Gorra, Otawa Senators
Subject: Re: Pizza Pizza

Hi Jacqueline: it is a rare day when I complain about anything but my kids were more than a little disappointed and the Pizza Pizza response was unsatisfactory in my view. Here is what happened. Regards, Bruce

Mr. Firestone,

Thanks for the quick response to my email.

I have contacted Pizza Pizza Head office and they have taken immediate action to resolve this matter. All of the stores have been contacted and instructed to honour tickets for the free-slice deal for ALL games whether it be pre-season, regular season, or playoffs. They said it was their mistake and they have communicated with all franchisees that they will call them after EVERY 5+ goal game to notify them that they should expect -- and honour all ticket stub redemption from customers within 48 hours of the game.

As for anyone who attempted to redeem their tickets for Friday night's game, Pizza Pizza has asked all franchisees to honour these tickets as well. For any direct calls, they are sending free coupons by mail to fans who were turned down.

In addition, they have forwarded a letter to us here at The Ottawa Senators offices to give to any fans who contact us directly.

Pizza Pizza has been, and continues to be one of The Ottawa Senators greatest supporters and partners. They apologize for this unfortunate situation and they (and we) are anxious to 'reverse' this situation quickly.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

I believe you will also be receiving an email from Pizza Pizza Head office.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Gorra
Corporate Account Manager
Ottawa Senators Hockey Club
Advertising - Sponsorship - Suites

Jacqueline-- thank you and the folks at Pizza Pizza for this. My kids adore Pizza Pizza pizza and the Sens too, so it was a double whammy for them. I would appreciate it if you would ask Pizza Pizza to send two coupons to Miss Rachel and Master Matthew Firestone, 43 mmmmm Crescent, nnnnnnn ON K7H 2L4 and we will declare their reputation repaired. Kindest personal regards, Bruce ps. I will post the Pizza Pizza response for our Entrepreneur Students to see how good companies respond when bad things happen. pps. this has been a terrific promotion for the Company and for the Sens up to now-- when the Sens are ahead and have scored 4, the fans start chanting 'PIZZA PIZZA'.

Pizza Pizza Response Letter

DISCUSSION

I was out with a friend of mine a little while ago who has worked most of his life managing small retail businesses. He asked me, "is customer service completely dead for corporations?" I really couldn't answer him. It seems that policy changing and bait and switch techniques at the corporate level has become commonplace in last year or two.

Take the "unlimited" long distance plans that go down to 500 minutes maximum after two months because "it wasn't feasible for the company." President's Choice Financial did everything they could two years ago to get you to sign up for overdraft protection, and four months ago, they removed it from every account without telling anyone. Their explanation was that since it was a token of customer service in the first place, they didn't have to notify the user. I can't help but think how many cheques bounced as a result of this.

The worst example of this was at Carleton University this year. Every year, OSAP students receive a renewal form in the mail. This year, it had to be done over the web. The problem - no one was alerted. Around the end of July, I came onto campus to speak to the awards office (because their line is perpetually busy), and I was told "you'll still get your OSAP loan - in November." Great. Now if only I can put off buying books until November. Fortunately, my parents could help me, but what about those who couldn't?

So, I pose the question to you - is customer service dead at the corporate level? How long before these corporations realize that the consumer will not stand to be treated like garbage?

Cheers,

Ryan Anderson
Creative Director,
Tiber Communications
http://www.tiber.ca

Ryan-- it is my experience that the Administration tends to think of the student body and the teaching group as somehow serving their interests rather than the other way around. It is my view that students and University Profs are the Administration's clients/customers and should be treated that way instead of the thought pervading the Administration that these groups exist to serve their interests. BMF

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