I was burning away a few minutes the other day, skimming through a weekly publication called Coffee News, which I find at various businesses around my small town. It's an old school way to advertise, with it's brown bag color and black and white scheme. But there are plenty of opportunities to reach consumers this low-tech route, by filling those few minutes we're waiting for something - in my case a smoothie at a local Tropical Smoothie Cafe - with bite-size and quirky bits of information.
The first story in the 'Everybody's Talking' section was titled Pizza delivery makes a difference, about a Minneapolis, Minnesota pizza joint called Galactic Pizza, which sets itself apart by "striving to be a perfect example of what is called a values led company", according to its 
website. Galactic uses organic and locally grown ingredients, purchaces its energy from renewable wind power, and donates 5% of after tax profits to charity. But the thing that really grabbed my attention, in the Coffee News story and when I went to Galactic's website, is the use of electric-powered three-wheeled vehicles for pizza deliveries.
It's not hard to see why the electric three-wheeler is an attention grabber. And of course the super hero outfitted delivery team doesn't hurt the marketing angle either. I think that's Captain Awesome pictured to the left, and one of his co-workers goes by the name of Shark Girl.
Galactic's website says they're trying to help "fulfill a vision of a sustainable and harmonius Earth". And whatever your thoughts of the Enviro/Natural movement, I think Galactic should be applauded for setting itself apart, for plotting a unique course - one that appears genuinely based on core principals (with a nice goofy twist) ... for being a Purple Cow, as Seth Godin terms 'remarkable' businesses.
How do you create Passionate Consumers of pizza when you're competing with the likes of Dominos, Pizza Hut, and Papa Johns? You offer something truly unique and distinct, and you run your business the way many of your customers (and potential customers) would want to run theirs. And when the other guys pull up to a house using the delivery person's personal car, with a company sign slapped on the roof, you show up in a show-stopping, engine-whirring three-wheeler that gets plugged in overnight. I bet Captain Awesome gets some awesome tips.
Seems like a pretty dorky attention getter, if you ask me. not to mention the fact that it must take them forever and a day to actually deliver the pizza with those slow vehicles, yes?
Posted by: matthew | April 01, 2010 at 11:09 PM