CMO Roundtable With Chief Marketing Officer of Cicis Pizza, Maria Trujillo

How do you deploy your marketing spend to deliver your brand's message and maximize ROI?

Maria Trujillo
Chief Marketing Officer
Cicis Pizza

Cicis deploys its marketing spend strategically through a full-funnel media approach that ensures consistent brand visibility and drives measurable ROI. Supporting more than 270 locations nationwide, our marketing strategy is designed to maximize both awareness and engagement while catering to each Cicis store's specific needs and market potential.

We maintain a year-round presence with targeted efforts during key periods, like May through September when kids are home from school and family dining becomes a priority. By optimizing our media mix, we balance cost-effectiveness with impactful storytelling, using video for top-of-the-funnel awareness and engagement. Social, display, and search campaigns play crucial roles in driving store visits and conversions at the bottom of the funnel, allowing us to remain efficient and results oriented.

Our stores are organized into tiers based on their potential sales contributions, enabling us to customize the media mix for maximum effect. Broadcast spending is carefully allocated to designated market areas with a high concentration of Cicis locations, ensuring that these regions benefit from market-wide buys. Meanwhile, digital media is precision targeted within a trade area radius for individual stores, reaching customers where they live and dine.

To further maximize ROI, we've partnered with Arm Candy and Epsilon to harness the power of data-driven paid media. These partnerships have allowed us to leverage purchase history insights to effectively engage Cicis' active guests while reactivating lapsed customers. Through these targeted campaigns, we've successfully increased visit frequency, ensuring our media spend delivers measurable outcomes.

Ultimately, Cicis' marketing spend is deployed with a dual focus: supporting our core brand messaging while amplifying the visibility of our LTOs and seasonal promotions. By blending data, creativity, and a customer-first approach, Cicis continues to reinforce its position as a legacy brand evolving to meet the needs of today's consumers in a competitive dining landscape.