Free Brand Audit For Dewey’s Pizza Essay Sample

Brand audit is an essential tool that helps organizations to determine the competitiveness of their products and services in relations to how the customers perceive them. It is an essential process that helps the organization to identify the market trends and come up with strategies of differentiating their products and services through creating a unique brand and competitive measures. In addition, brand audit enables management to position their organization in the market as well as adopt effective measures of gaining competitive advantage. This is the same process that could help Dewey’s Pizza in achieving their expansion plan in various market segments both within and outside Cincinnati. This is particularly as a result of the competitive nature in fast food industry that calls for strategic marketing and branding measures in order to have a reputable position in the market. This paper therefore provides a detailed brand audit for the Cincinnati’s leading pizza joint, Dewey’s Pizza.
Dewey’s Pizza is an informal restaurant specializing in production and sales of pizzas located in Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio. It is described as informal because a customer can go in without usually having to wear a suit or tie. In addition, a customer can opt to eat their pizza and a cold beer in the restaurant or just order a take-away. Dewey’s pizza also specializes in events and outside catering services, particularly with the aim of marketing their brand. Dewey’s pizza has an interesting story concerning the development of the idea to start the restaurant by the founder and current Chief executive officer, Andrew Dewitt. Dewitt came up with an idea of starting a pizza restaurant while he was working as a pizza delivery boy in Seattle. This was after graduating from Los Angeles Guitar Institute of Technology. After moving back to Cincinnati in 1997, Dewitt signed a leasing agreement for a restaurant from the local authorities in Oakley neighborhood and by 1998, the fist Dewey’s restaurant was opened. As per the 203 annual company reports, Dewey’s Pizza had developed from a single restaurant established fifteen years ago into a 30 million chain of seventeen restaurants and over 700 hundred employees. The company has various outlets in Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Columbus and Dayton and has plans to expand to other regions in the US.
The company’s specializes in production of pizzas, salads and sauce, with the pizza being the core product of the company. Some of the specialty products include a variety of pizzas and sauces and pies made onsite upon customer request. The restaurants also serve different brands of beers and aged wines specifically from Italy and Spain as well as new wines from California and Argentina. This small but carefully selected variety of drinks has enabled Dewey’s pizza position themselves as a type of restaurant that values quality and customer satisfaction.

Target Market

The target customers for Dewey’s pizza include all varieties of people providing a comfortable environment both for single people and families. Coupled with exemplary services, the restaurant has attracted various types of customers as well as retained a positive reputation for being the leading pizza restaurants in the region. The customers have a choice to walk in and enjoy their pizza onsite or simply place an order through a phone call or online and the pizza will be delivered within the shortest time possible.

Brand Description

Brand image plays a vital role in marketing an organization’s products and services as well as establishing customer loyalty. This is because, a brand identity and image and identity is not easily forgotten once a customer has a first encounter with the services and products represented by a particular brand. The Dewey’s pizza brand is characterized with a variety of specialty Pizza pies, live kitchen shows such as pizza flopping and tossing, and exemplary services. The actual brand image is the full name of the establishment with a branded letter D in between the two words. The brand name has replaced most of the buildings acquired by Dewey’s Pizza and this has served as marketing strategy to new market especially to the customer who has had anticipations of having a Dewey’s pizza experience. The company’s slogan of “taking Pizza to the next level” has helped the company to achieve a positive and brand image as well as gain a competitive advantage through brand differentiation.

Market Positioning

Market positioning is an essential factor that organizations need to analyze as a way of coming up with development strategies that would enable the organization to retain its current market position or move at a higher level than their current position. This means reviewing feedbacks from the customers, reviewing competitor products and services and also analyzing the developments that the organization has achieved. Dewey’s pizza has positioned itself as a leading specialty restaurant in the city of Cincinnati. The company has successfully gained a market share as a result of their mastery in pizza making which is characterized high quality and freshness as well as the existence of fast and friendly services by the employees. The company uses their catchy positioning slogan, ‘Taking Pizza to the next level’ to attract new and existing customers to have a Dewey’s Pizza experience by experiencing a variety of the company’s pizzas.
The organization also determines their market positioning through assessing their competitors (Dahlen, 2010). The main competitors in the region include the Mellow Mushroom located in in Polaris Z Pizza located in the Short North. The company also faces competition from medium fast food joints and also from major outlets such as Papa John and McDonalds. However, the distinct specialty Dewey’s pizzas which are made in California traditional style have dominated the market and managed to win several awards including the Pizza Grand Prix III in Columbus.
In order to take the company’s products to the next step and have a higher market share, Dewey’s pizza has developed a five-year positioning map that aims at doubling the current seventeen restaurants by the end of five years. This is gained achieving a fifteen percent growth every year, whereby the company intends to open three restaurants in different locations annually. This is a strategic positioning map that intends to gain market share in other regions where the competitors have already established their products and services. Dewey’s Pizza has a competitive advantage of their reputable brand image built by the quality of the company’s pizzas.

Brand Marketing

Dewey’s has utilized various marketing tools and techniques to market their products and services. Some of the marketing strategies include low pricing of the pizzas and offering discounts and coupons and participating in events that promote corporate social responsibility. The company’s website which is uniquely designed as well as social media pages provides vital information concerning the products and locations. In addition, the company uses the local media in advertising their products and services.

Key Recommendations

Being in a fast growing industry, Dewey’s pizza has needs to come up with strategic measures that will enable the company in coping with competition. One of the recommendations is the use of management information system to speed up the services as well as manage various internal operations. In addition, the company needs to carry out extensive market research and identify unique market niches before opening up new restaurants.

References

Dahlen, M. et al. (2010). Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. NJ: Wiley & Sons.
Demeropolis, T. (2013). “Andrew DeWitt is taking his pizza chain to next level”. Cincinnati Business Courier. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2013/10/25/andrew-dewitt-is-taking-his-pizza.html .
http://www.deweyspizza.com/#!/about/the-story