Pizza, not necessity, is the mother of invention. At least that’s the idea behind Domino’s Pizza campaign “Powered by Pizza.”
With the help of agency CP+B, the fast food pizza chain is offering to feed 30 startups with “pizzavestments” – $500 Domino’s gift cards – because startup life often involves late nights of working non-stop and ordering pizza for everyone to eat while they continue to work.
“This campaign was born out of Domino’s own history,” said Matt Talbot, creative director at CP+B. “They have an interesting statistic: About 90 percent of Domino’s franchise owners started as entry-level workers, as delivery guys, and worked their way up. So the idea started as feeding the American dream within their own organization and then expanded to pizza’s presence in other companies’ pursuits of the American dream.”
Domino’s is determining which 30 startups to reward with these pizzavestments. Toward that end, CP+B’s research of American startups will be identifying those that have “innovative business models or focus on products, tech or hard goods, that are made in America,” as Talbot explained.
Dominos has already given a handful of startups these pizzavestment gift cards, including consumer feedback startup Blacklist, and Duolingo, a language-education and crowdsourcing translation startup.
As part of the campaign, Domino’s is also partnering with crowd-funding site Indiegogo to reward people who support startups. People who pledge to support certain Indiegogo projects will be eligible for “Powered by Pizza Perks” in the form of Domino’s gift cards if the projects reach their funding goals.
Domino’s is asking people to use the hashtag #PoweredByPizza on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share their innovation-and-pizza-related moments and thoughts.
RT if pizza has gotten you through some late nights. @Reply if tonight might be one of those nights. #poweredbypizza pic.twitter.com/DU1uNPJ8Lt
— Domino’s Pizza (@dominos) August 5, 2013
More in Marketing
Kroger’s AI shopping assistant has ads at launch
Kroger has made advertising part of its AI shopping assistant, following the implementation of advertising features on competitors’ chatbots.
OpenAI brings product carousels to ChatGPT ads
It builds on OpenAI’s product feed campaigns, bringing a Google Shopping-style carousel format to ChatGPT ahead of the Q4 holiday period.
Digiday+ Research: The 2026 guide to holiday marketing strategies, including A-Frame Brands, Mastercard and Ritual
Shoppers continue to grapple with higher prices and affordability, while brands face rising operating costs and increased pressure to prove their marketing dollars are delivering measurable returns.