Pizza Power

In Advertising Age this week, Al Reis, he of "Positioning" fame, writes about the downfall of Little Caesars and lays it squarely at the feet of the client who has constantly tinkered with its ad message over the past 15 years.

For the most part, it's a great piece about consistency and owning your place in the market. There are a couple of key factual errors, attributing too much of the chain's success at that time to the talented Cliff Freeman.

First Little Caesar's got the idea for two-for-one pricing from Sy LaChiusa, a Detroit marketing consultant. And, the brand's funny, off-beat personality wasn't the brainchild of Freeman, but John DeCerchio and the other talented creative teams working at W.B. Doner. Their work was awarded a Gold Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival in 1987.

I was lucky enough to spend a year there in 1985 and learned a lot about humor, positioning and the dedication to craft that is great advertising.

Unfortunately, Little Caesar's left Doner when they accepted the Arby's business. The client, rightly so, felt it was a conflict and moved the business to Freeman precisely because they demonstrated they could continue the campaign in a consistent fashion.