Company: Little Caesar Enterprises
Agencies: Fishman PR, MRG and Evins Communications
Timeframe: 2006-ongoing
To thank the men and women of the military for their service, national pizza chain owner Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. did more than offer them complimentary toppings--it
established, in November 2006, the Little Caesars Veterans Program, which honors veterans by providing them with a business opportunity.
The Little Caesars program crystallized as a result of continuous reports detailing the struggles of war-wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Little Caesars founder (and
former Marine) Michael Ilitch recognized the challenges this group faced upon returning home, and wanted to help them transition to civilian life.
After reading about one veteran, Army Staff Sergeant Robbie Doughty--who lost his legs while serving in Iraq--Ilitch reached out and gave Doughty a Little Caesars franchise in
his hometown of Paducah, Ky. Ilitch then challenged Little Caesars' management to build momentum around this singular gesture by creating a veteran franchise program that would
make a difference for members of this community.
The primary objective of Little Caesars Veterans Program was to reach out to veterans and communicate the potential business opportunity available to them. Realizing that PR
outreach would be critical to driving results, the Little Caesars communications team created an integrated program, which included partnerships, a marketing campaign and special
events.
Ready, Set, Go
Prior to launching the program, the company wanted to gauge consumer sentiment regarding the association of the Little Caesars brand with a perceived military issue. The
primary research methods used were:
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Online survey: Little Caesars execs worked with Intellitrends to survey consumers regarding their impression of a brand that would provide opportunities to veterans;
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Online research/literature review: Little Caesars reviewed franchise and veteran literature/Web sites for insights into the veteran population and assistance offered to
them when transitioning to civilian life. Little Caesars also reviewed existing programs, targeted to its intended audience, as a means to gather benchmark data; and,
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Face-to-face interviews: Little Caesars reached out to key military/veteran organizations to glean insights into how to reach veterans, as well as which credits and
benefits would make the program attractive to this audience. The team also interviewed a number of veterans, some of whom served as unofficial consultants.
Overall findings indicated that consumers felt favorably about a company that provided opportunities to veterans, signaling that the team should proceed with the program as
planned. If there was one main challenge of the program, it was setting it apart from other veterans programs that already exist. Research was key in dealing with this challenge.
"We talked to a lot of people and a lot of veterans to find out what would make this program significant to them, what they would respond to," says Kathryn Oldham, director of
communications for the Little Caesar Enterprises. "We went to Walter Reed Medical Hospital, Bethesda Naval Hospital and worked with a few veterans as consultants along the way.
Many franchise companies have some kind of programs for veterans. But what makes our program unique is the depth of benefits for the service-disabled portion of it. We were, in
that regard, creating something new."
Following the research stage, a steering committee comprised of members of Little Caesars' various departments--administration, human resources and communications--met weekly
for over a year to develop the components of the program: for starters, identifying the primary target (honorably discharged veterans) and secondary targets (government agencies
and influentials, veteran-related organizations, veterans' families, other business leaders, consumers and Little Caesars employees and franchisees).
The team then created a network of internal and external resources, using this expertise to design, execute and promote the program's offerings of credits, discounts,
marketing/communications support and financing options for veterans interested in franchise opportunities. Primary organizations accessed included the Center for Veterans
Enterprise (CVE), Marine for Life (M4L) and VetFran, a program of the International Franchise Association devoted to veteran franchising. Additionally many of Little Caesars' key
suppliers, including Pepsi, Monster and Crossroads Financial, saw value in the program and wanted to get involved.
To promote and increase awareness of the program, the communications outreach also extended to grand openings of veteran-owned stores, as well as relevant calendar events like
Veterans Day. Special plaques were displayed in store lobbies of these stores as well as window clings placed over front doors.
The program was launched on Veterans Day 2006, the timing of which provided a relevant news angle for media outreach. To support the launch, Little Caesars created collateral
communications materials including a press release, brochure, video and a Web site. They also provided spokespeople for interviews.
Internally, Little Caesars launched the program with a special edition newsletter and a voicemail from Little Caesars president David Scrivano, recognizing employees for their
commitment and contributions. (An update on the program is provided at company biannual all-employee meetings--Robbie Doughty, the disabled veteran who inspired the program, was
the guest speaker at the organization's Service Awards event this past year.)
Delivering More Than Pizza
The results of the Little Caesars Veterans Program have been noteworthy. Since the inauguration of the program, two dozen veterans have become franchisees under the program. Of
those, six veteran-owned stores have opened, with more to open in the coming months. At press time, Little Caesars received about 70,000 Web site hits and 1,400 inquiries as
reported by the Center for Veterans Enterprise.
The PR component yielded impressive results as well. The program has been featured in both local and national news in print, radio, taped and live TV coverage, and in trade,
veteran and military publications. The overall media impressions are estimated to be in the multi-millions. Since the program launch, more than 60 franchisors have joined VetFran.
And, a year after the Little Caesars Veterans program was launched, Domino's Pizza launched a similar program.
The program has also had a positive effect on Little Caesars' internal communications efforts. Since the program began, Oldham notes that there have been reports of increased
internal employee satisfaction and motivation. Employees have become highly engaged in and committed to the program.
Perhaps the highest honor came on Sept. 17, 2007, when Little Caesars founder Ilitch was given the Secretary's Award by the Department of Veterans Affairs "in grateful
recognition of and appreciation for your exceptional generosity to our Nation's veterans." PRN
CONTACTS:
Kathryn Oldham, [email protected]; Megan Insley, [email protected]
The Year Of Strategic Thinking
If there was one thing Kathryn Oldham, communications director for Little Caesar Enterprises Inc., learned while working on the Little Caesars Veterans Program, it was the
necessity of being strategic.
"Building a strategy and having a strategic plan to develop a program was really important because it enables a consistent approach and a way to measure results," she explains.
"You have a really good sense of who's doing what in terms of responsibilities."
Also, Oldham and her team learned that it's integral to build and maintain alliances among key partners; in her case, it was with the various PR firms, the suppliers,
organizations such as the Center for Veterans Enterprise and the media. "It's a very collaborative process, and when you want to create a program you're working on outside of your
company you really need to identify the right sources of information and follow up with the media and continue to enhance the program."
Many Organizations, One Common Goal
While most of the branding for the Little Caesars Veterans Program was handled at the corporate headquarters, the Little Caesars communications team did tap three outside firms
to bring the campaign to fruition: Fishman PR (Chicago), MRG (East Lansing, Mich.) and Evins Communications (New York).
"We brought the agencies in when the program was basically complete and we had a good bit of a launch strategy in place," says Kathryn Oldham, director of communications for
Little Caesar Enterprises Inc., when describing how the agencies got involved in the project. "We wanted to really take the same approach we took when we were developing the
program, which was to do some outreach and benefit from working with other organizations. All the agencies brought various experiences, resources, strengths and relationships, and
provided very valuable insight as we finalized our strategy to launch and promote the program."
All the agencies worked together to make sure the messaging was consistent. "It was important we all worked from the same pitch sheet and had the same material," she notes.
"All the tactics needed to tie together to support the goal."
What was particularly interesting and noteworthy about having three firms work on the project was the specific expertise each brought to the table.
"Fishman PR has a lot of experience with franchise media, and they also have more mainstream contacts," Oldham says. "Evins has some national media relationships and MRG has
political experience."
Oldham says the latter element was especially important to the project because the team wanted to remain bipartisan and not align itself with one political point of view.
"The entire dynamic of the program has been about interactive dialogue and teamwork--those are the core attributes of Little Caesar Enterprises," says Megan Insley, executive
vice president of the New York-based Evins Communications. "That's a critical message about this organization."
"In our case, it was business opportunities for veterans," Oldham says. "[For companies that wish to emulate the Little Caesars' program], it's important to choose to develop a
program that makes sense for your company. For example, Caesars has a long history of giving back to its community. So this program was organic and sustainable for our
company."
And even though there were several agencies that worked on the project, the collaboration was very smooth, says Insley. "We had working to our advantage a strong communications
team with multiple components. This gave further evidence to the importance of inter-team communication and leveraged resources. Now more than ever, interagency relationships and
strong agency client dialogue are the keys to success. Each brand partner, each agency resource contributed a unique point of view and a unique core competency."