Scooters Pizza rebranding increases store turnovers significantly

The recent strategic decision made by Scooters Pizza to refresh their brand has paid dividends, with monitoring conducted on ten of the company’s revamped stores, revealing that they have achieved financial growth in excess of 30%, since the food franchising company underwent rebranding in 2012.
The rebranding involved a design transformation to the Scooter Pizza logo, menu, signage, and furnishings in its stores. The company’s Port Elizabeth store was the first to benefit from the rebranding, and to date, a further 13 stores have since had a branding overhaul. While some stores will undergo total revamps to the value of approximately R220 000, others will only be retro fitted to the value of R70 000 as these stores require minimal upgrades.

With the rebranding, Scooter Pizza’s core identifying colours of red and yellow were retained, but are now complemented by a complete turnaround in font and logo aesthetics. The new logo is prominent in the store design and in elements such as counter tops.

Another big change was made to the Scooter Pizza tagline that went from ‘Hot.Tasty.Fast’ to ‘Get a slice of the good life’, as a way of creating a stronger call to action and ensuring that the company’s core values and services were more emotively communicated.

The rebranding of the stores is on-going, and should be completed in three years’ time.

CEO of the Taste Holdings Food Division, Christo Calitz, notes that the rebranding was an evolutionary step motivated by the need to ensure that Scooters Pizza’s brand identity did not stagnate.

“It is common for well-established brands to reassess their image and communication channels every seven to eight years. Having launched 12 years ago in September 2000, Scooters Pizza recognised that the time had come to inject a change into our brand identity, so that we could remain current and appeal to new customers entering the market.

“Subsequently, we are delighted with the success we have had with the brand refresh, and it undoubtedly proves that it is important for brands to remain relevant in the public eye and that committing to this principle will ultimately result in considerable financial gains.”
Calitz adds that the decision to undertake a brand refresh was also largely supported by extensive nationwide research undertaken with approximately 600 to 700 existing and potential consumers, all of which indicated that the public was hungry for a new look. The research also found that the younger segment of the market felt that Scooter Pizza’s logo had aged and needed a reboot.
 “Scooter Pizza’s current reputation can be largely attributed to our desire to remain true to our core values and messaging, whilst simultaneously adapting to the constantly changing trends and demands of the market. Brands go through cycles, and refreshing them is a good way to ensure they progress to reach the next level.
“Moving forward, we intend to maintain this strategic value, and refine our identity in small ways, in order to stay fresh and relevant in the minds of our target market.”