EXCLUSIVE: Mountain Mike’s Pizza enhances connected TV ads

A regional pizza retailer with nearly 300 locations in the Western U.S. is shifting its marketing efforts to connected TV.

In a technology deployment exclusively shared with Chain Store Age, Mountain Mike’s Pizza is leveraging the MNTN Performance TV platform to increase the reach, profitability and trackability of its advertisements. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based pizza chain had already been working with MNTN Performance TV to drive online orders and build a durable takeout business when it started shifting its ad budget away from linear TV to digital channels in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The retailer’s primary goal was to achieve a strong return on ad spend (ROAS) from individual campaigns in each of its franchise locations’ markets, and to be able to easily swap creative in and out to promote limited-time offers on its marketing calendar. 

The company also wanted to see the direct results of ad spend in each campaign to build trust and confidence with its franchisees in the program. The MNTN Performance TV solution enables Mountain Mike’s Pizza to engage in promotional workflows such as:

• Automated optimizations allow the retailer to drive performance across the connected TV campaigns of its disparate locations, then apply learnings to the rest of its marketing channels.
• Geotargeting capabilities let Mountain Mike’s Pizza target connected TV users within a set radius of each franchise location.
• Audience targeting capabilities reach audiences deemed highly qualified based on demographic and psychographic data like interests, lifestyles, and previous shopping behavior. 

Mountain Mike’s Pizza chose to based its creative strategy around limited-time offers. These offers were based on cultural moments, like mini churros for sweethearts on Valentine’s Day, or unique seasonal promos like "Wings Week." The retailer was able to quickly rotate their creative in and out to keep pace with its marketing calendar across all locations. 

Results of using the MNTN Performance TV solution include: 

• 228% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) from 2021 to 2022.
• 18% Lower cost per view (CPV) from 2021 to 2022.
• 374% higher ROAS than goal in 2023.
• 124% higher year-over-year ROAS in February 2024.

According to Mountain Mike’s Pizza, connected TV campaigns have gotten more efficient over time, allowing the retailer to spend less money while still driving more visits and revenue. As it opens new locations in 2024, Mountain Mike’s will use targeted connected TV advertising to help win audiences in new markets.

"With traditional television, what can you measure?" said Carlo DeNembo, chief marketing officer, Mountain Mike’s Pizza. "We’re very data-driven. Being able to take the data and use it for targeting and reporting with MNTN Performance TV helps us make better business decisions and create KPIs. It still blows people’s minds that we can track it down to the actual order."

[Read more: Kroger expands retail media network to connected TV]