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DiGiorno Turns to Twitter for Flatbread-Pizza Launch

Kraft Will Deliver Frozen Pies to Tweetups to Generate Word-of-Mouth

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- DiGiorno is launching a flatbread pizza by way of TV, print and ... Twitter. The freezer aisle's largest-selling pizza brand is wading into social media for the launch, tapping tweeters with strong followings and offering to provide food for tweetups.

Kraft will deliver DiGiorno to tweetups hosted by influential tweeters to promote its new flatbread pizza.

"We've always been out there with a lot of different media touch points, with a combination of online and offline," said Tom Moe, director-marketing for Kraft's DiGiorno brand. "We're always looking for the newest and most relevant places to be in both areas, and we thought this would be a great offer to combine with Twitter."

DiGiorno's new flatbread pizza is a thinner, crispier version of the premium frozen product.

Reaching out to influential tweeters
The brand has tasked PR agency Weber Shandwick with reaching out to influential tweeters willing to host tweetups, or in-person get-togethers prearranged on Twitter, in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Kraft will deliver DiGiorno to the events and hope attendees spread the word. Just what makes an influential tweeter "is something we're in the process of working out with the folks at Weber," Mr. Moe said. The brand's advertising agencies include DraftFCB, MediaVest and Digitas, all out of Chicago, and AKQA, San Francisco.

"The beauty of the tweetup is it's not necessarily millions of impressions at that point in time," Mr. Moe said. "It's the quality of interaction we're going to have with these folks who are passionate about relevant new news." But that makes for something of a fuzzy return-on-investment measurement. Mr. Moe said Kraft will measure success based on engagement at the event, and how much tweeting and blogging is generated by it.

DiGiorno has been among Kraft Foods' more technologically forward brands. When its popular "DiGiornomics" campaign launched in August, Kraft built accompanying contextual-search ads designed to intercept Yelp and Citysearch users looking for "pizza delivery" and instead offer DiGiorno. That program has been expanded for 2009...