It’s one of the catchiest and most memorable tunes on the radio waves, and also one of the most time-honoured. This October 2017, it will be 30 years since a few advertising visionaries – notably Rene DeSantis, Joe Latobesi and Andy DeSantis of Montana Steele – got together with Sam Primucci, then President of Pizza Nova, and came up with a brilliant campaign that still resonates to this day.
The story of Pizza Nova is inspiring because it has all the right ingredients to make it timeless and successful, just like the pizzas they make. It has: Italian tradition, attention to detail adapting with the times, but staying consistent and true to message. The now-famous jingle, a collaborative effort between Montana Steele, Sam Primucci and renowned jingle writer/producer Sid Kessler, was born in October 1987, from the need to have one centralized telephone number that could be both: the persona of the brand and an order/delivery mechanism.
It was an instant hit and has become synonymous with traditional authentic Italian pizza, made with the purest natural ingredients, and baked to perfection “just like Nonna used to make”. The idea to use the client’s voice in the radio commercial was also highly successful, giving it authenticity and personal credibility.
Nowadays, the voice we hear is that of Sam’s son, Domenic Primucci rounding off the jingle with his trademark “Taste the difference”. With the changing of the guard has come new ways of doing business, notably the franchise model, but the core essence of the brand has stayed the same: dedication to quality and the use of purest, natural, hormone-free ingredients.