Atop the uber trendy Thompson Hotel in downtown Toronto, an exclusive gathering of media, sponsors and contest winners were sipping champagne as we waited to meet, and in my case photograph, Tori Spelling.
So the question is why?
Because she was in town promoting McCain’s Ultra Thin Crust Pizza.
Again I started wondering why?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand why she was there -she was being paid. But I guess what I’m really asking is do we need a celeb to tout a product to make us pay attention to it?
This was a small gathering being wined and appetized before a heavily pregnant Tori was brought out.
I get that she strikes a chord with a key demographic: she’s a mom, she’s pregnant, she’s a reality star and an icon from many of our youths, so she checks off several marketing boxes. But did I need Tori telling me a cute anecdote about her son Liam, who won’t eat veggies, but loves McCain’s Spinach & Provolone Ultra Thin Crust because it “looks like an Incredible Hulk pizza”?
I guess so, because it did get the media out and the teaser I posted yesterday generated a lot of interest.
Let me be clear: after tasting 3 of the 5 flavours, I have to say I really enjoyed the pizza. It was crisp, the topping selections were varied, I can pronounce all the ingredients plus I actually know what they are. From a nutritional standpoint they’re easy on the calories, and though not high in fibre, they’re good in calcium, iron and vitamins A & C. In short, I wouldn’t feel guilty feeding this to my kids. With a side of raw veggies & dip, this would be a super easy and healthy meal. Now that I, who am not a paid spokesperson, have said that, do we still need Tori?
A few ye
ars ago when another company was introducing their frozen thin crust pizza, they handed them out on street corners across the city. They gave me 5. To this day, when I’m in the grocery store that is the product my eye goes to.
I wonder which campaign in the end will have been more effective?
When I was chatting with Tori, it wasn’t about pizza, by the way, it was about being Screech’s girlfriend on Saved By the Bell. But I digres…
What do you think? What makes you try a new product?
I honestly enjoy watching commercials if they grab me – but it’s the commercial I always remember, not the product! So if she’s going to be on commercials? I would notice her, but it would lead me to purchase whatever the brand of pizza is – I’ve just read it and forgotten already, so you see how well these things work with me!
i don’t need a celebrity to tell me what to buy. i value the advice of friends (and a certain website) much more!
all I can say is it refreshing to see some meat on the potatoes of a celeb. Esp a pregnant one
do I need her to tell me something is good? No. Her word means zero.
The person touting something either has to have cred with me- like a blogger on UM or a friend/family- or I need to find them too gorgeous. Like Javier Bardem talking root canal. I might sign up even if I didn’t need one. and I would order what he was having even if I wasn’t hungry.
First of all – stunning pictures!
I agree it seemed superfluous to have Tori there. We all know she isn’t serving these at home on a regular basis and that her speech was written for her by the company…
but is it any different than when we see a celebrity commercial for skin cream, or our kids see Spongebob toothpaste at the grocery store?
We are drawn to celebrity – whether willingly or not, it’s a fact of life.
While I was certainly not buying the speech she gave fora second, I wonder how the turn-out would have been if it was just for the launch of the pizza?
I guess what I’m trying to say is, as long as we respond to celebrities – companies will keep on wheeling them out for us to ogle.
It got us there. It got us to try and publicize their pizza (which I loved). Hard to argue with that if you’re in marketing.
ha, ha I certainly don’t need a celebrity to push me to try a product I will if it looks good, the price is right and my son with aspergers will eat it. That said my son could be the spokesperson for McCain as he will only eat their products when it comes to pizza, pizza pockets, fries, and the shopsy’s hot dogs – lol there we go we will have getting all those picky eaters eating!
Great post by the way and your words alone made me want to go buy it:)
When it comes to food, I’m not terribly adventurous about trying new store products… that being said, if a trusted person tells me it it to be tried, then I’m likely to do so. Otherwise, I think I’m always a bit skeptical. (Maybe that’s bad…? I don’t screw around when it comes to good-tasting food though.)