Hungry Howie's
LOVE, HOPE & PIZZA
WHEN PRICE AND QUALITY ARE EQUAL, CAUSE DRIVES CHOICE

CAUSE DRIVES CHOICE
Given a choice between personal service and a social cause, 85% of millennials chose the brand that supports a cause. So, we asked, what causes do consumers actually care about?
We tested offers in matched-pair analysis against causes. Whether we tested sponsoring school sports, or even promotional offers such as getting a $5 discount on a Greek Salad, up to three times as many consumers indicated they would rather have pennies donated to fight breast cancer. The National Breast Cancer Foundation originally gave credibility to the message, but today, recall of Hungry Howie’s as a brand supporting the fight against breast cancer is 57%. That's greater than the awareness of NBCF itself.
15K LIVES TOUCHED
Based on early detection statistics from the American Cancer Society, Howie’s $1.7 million contribution (since 2009) has funded mammograms for 15,000 uninsured women, thus saving an estimated 67 lives through the NBCF.
ROAD TO 66% GROWTH
We designed a brand experience worthy of a pizza that cost almost $2 more than the competition – including a new logo, retail scape and the launch of a loyalty program with a mobile ordering app.
50% OF NEW SALES CAME FROM DIGITAL
HYPER-LOCAL DIGITAL
DBA geo-mapped a 3-mile radius around each store between the hours of 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. – when pizza buyers were buying. We employed SEO/SEM, programmatic digital, social, and mobile, with unprecedented store-level analytics reporting. Each franchise owner personally watched their Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) drop.
Doubled Sales and Ran Out of Dough! In one outrageously successful digital blitz, DBA focused on an obscure holiday that comes once every four years: Leap Day. By promoting a BOGO 29¢ pizza through all digital media, all at once, Howie’s generated +203% more pizza sales. Stores actually ran out of dough!
“Simply, in the four-plus decades of Hungry Howie’s history, no marketing campaign came even close,” CEO Steve Jackson said. “We stuck our toe in the water and almost drowned that first time.” – QSR Magazine, 2019
"HANDS DOWN WOWED US DURING THE RFP PROCESS AND NEVER LET OFF THE ACCELERATOR"
"Daniel Brian Advertising hands down wowed us during the RFP process and never let off the accelerator. Out of the gate they took an idea we had for breast cancer awareness and turned it into one of the most successful campaigns we’ve ever run. Love Hope & Pizza became our flagship promotion that rallied our troops every October. To date we have raised over 3 million dollars for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and just celebrated our 10 year anniversary with them.
After that first project they took on the challenge of rebranding our company. They took a 35 year old logo and refreshed it bringing it out of the 70s and making it fresh and current. They completely rewrote all new brand standards and gave the company a completely new look. Along with that they developed a new ad campaign featuring the “Ad Guys” two ad agency employees coming up with crazy ways to promote Hungry Howie’s. The campaign was a huge success and ran for 7 years.
The agency was a huge part of planning our National Convention and came up with many of the themes. The meeting openings were always produced by the agency and our franchisees still talk about them today. Our overall experience with DBA was great and I highly recommend them as a truly creative ad agency."
– Jeff Rinke, Marketing Director, Hungry Howie's

LEAP DAY CAMPAIGN
+203% more pizza sales. "Stores actually ran out of dough!" BOGO 29-cent pizza promotion.
FASTEST-GROWING PIZZA CHAIN
86% brand recall. 74% ad recall on 1/10th competitor budget. 66% growth, passed Domino's for 28 quarters.
RESULTS
86%
Brand Recall
66%
Growth
74%
Ad Recall
67
Lives Saved
+203%
Leap Day Sales
“Simply, in the four-plus decades of Hungry Howie's history, no marketing campaign came even close.”
Steve Jackson
CEO, Hungry Howie's (QSR Magazine, 2019)
SERVICES COMPLETED
Brand Consulting
Social Media Strategy
HyperLocal Digital Marketing
Campaign Strategy
RELATED WORK
LET'S WORK
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