1. Brand Information
Dodo Pizza is a large pizzeria chain founded by Syktyvkar entrepreneur Fyodor Ovchinnikov and quickly gained popularity, in part due to its clever branding. The chain has over 1,300 restaurants in 25+ countries.
Dodo Pizza positions itself as an accessible and reliable food service that helps people focus on the important things in life. This brand message is expressed in the company manifesto: «We’ll take care of the pizza while you take care of the important things.»
This positioning is supported by the brand’s values: accessibility, responsiveness, trust, openness, and quality. Interestingly, these values translate into the word «DODOK» when translated into Russian.
Dodo Pizza’s target audience
- Young adults and students — they appreciate low prices, a mobile app, memes, promotions, and fast delivery. - Families with children — they choose the brand because of its menu, ease of ordering, the ability to order food for the whole family, and the opportunity to create a family event by going to the pizzeria. - Office workers and corporate clients — use delivery for lunches and corporate meetings. - Teenagers — actively engage with the brand through social media.
2. Communication channels
MAIN SOCIAL NETWORKS AND PLATFORMS
Dodo Pizza is a standout example of a digital-first brand. The company actively invests in online communications, focusing on social media, its own app, and transparency. The brand uses a mix of digital and traditional channels, but its main focus is on social platforms and direct engagement with its audience.
VK is one of Dodo Pizza’s key channels in Russia.
Dodo Pizza’s VK page
The brand’s main community has over 800,000 followers. There, they post new products, promotions, and humor, as well as respond to audience questions.
«That true taste of Thailand 🇹🇭 Miss the noisy streets, neon lights, and heat? Then try our new sweet-and-sour, spicy-and-savory creations — Tom Yum pizza and Tom Yum pasta.»
Instagram* — has about 150,000 followers
Dodo Pizza’s Instagram* page
It is actively used for visual content, Stories, Reels, as well as for videos explaining «why we do things this way at our restaurant.»
Telegram — has over 350,000 subscribers.
Dodo Pizza’s Telegram page
Most of the content is reposted from VKontakte, but there is also unique, cozier content in the form of employee stories, video circles, giveaways, and stickers.
A Telegram conversation using Dodo Pizza stickers.
«Hi! I’m Dodoshka. Today is my first day working at the pizzeria. And I have no idea how to cook. So… shall we make a pizza together?»
TikTok — is present in different countries.
It is used for viral, Gen-Z oriented content.
Dodo Pizza demonstrates a well-structured multi-channel strategy, which deserves high praise. Effective content distribution and adaptation to the specifics of each platform allow the brand to maintain a leading position in digital communications.
3. Theories from the course lectures used for analysis
For our analysis, we’ll use the Elaboration Likelihood Model, which is based on the understanding that people don’t always react to information in the same way. They might carefully examine a message and evaluate its arguments, or they might simply make decisions automatically based on emotion and overall impression.
There are two main paths of persuasion: central and peripheral
