Why Pizza Boxes Have a Lot to Teach Us About Loyalty
Let’s talk about the little gap under the lid of a pizza box. You know the one—crinkled cardboard that never quite seals shut. It’s not there for air. It’s not poor engineering. It’s branding.
Hear me out. I’d argue that few industries understand repeat purchase behaviour like independent pizza joints. Not the franchised ones with QR codes on your receipt. I mean the places where the phone number is cellotaped behind your pantry door. The true loyalty machines.
These shops don’t have CRM systems. No paid loyalty apps. But they absolutely know how to build memory structures. They repeat three things relentlessly: smell, shape, and the shade of their logo. They use that oversized box like a billboard (yes, I said billboard, but I don't mean billboards), planting it on your bench then your recycling bin for five days straight. The lid gap? It lets you peek in and see that warm, slightly greasy paper topping. It’s not a flaw, it’s a tease.
Marketers buried in ROAS dashboards could learn something here. Brand is not what’s said in a campaign, but what seeps through your rituals. Naming your Friday pizza night after the shop (‘Crusty’s Night’) is far more powerful than a $10 cashback. There’s no GPS tech, but everyone within 3km gets a flyer on their windscreen when new flavours drop. Handmade cards beat programmatic ads, every time. And yes, maybe we should all be a bit more pizza box.
Hear me out. I’d argue that few industries understand repeat purchase behaviour like independent pizza joints. Not the franchised ones with QR codes on your receipt. I mean the places where the phone number is cellotaped behind your pantry door. The true loyalty machines.
These shops don’t have CRM systems. No paid loyalty apps. But they absolutely know how to build memory structures. They repeat three things relentlessly: smell, shape, and the shade of their logo. They use that oversized box like a billboard (yes, I said billboard, but I don't mean billboards), planting it on your bench then your recycling bin for five days straight. The lid gap? It lets you peek in and see that warm, slightly greasy paper topping. It’s not a flaw, it’s a tease.
Marketers buried in ROAS dashboards could learn something here. Brand is not what’s said in a campaign, but what seeps through your rituals. Naming your Friday pizza night after the shop (‘Crusty’s Night’) is far more powerful than a $10 cashback. There’s no GPS tech, but everyone within 3km gets a flyer on their windscreen when new flavours drop. Handmade cards beat programmatic ads, every time. And yes, maybe we should all be a bit more pizza box.