The competition will largely make use of social media to generate entries and attract public votes. Roman's Pizza has set up a special blog where all jokes entered will be posted and where the public can immediately decide if they are Funny or Unfunny.
Liberal use will be made of social media to drive and promote the competition, to both aspirant jokesters and the voting public. Entrants will be able to submit jokes in video, audio, written or cartoon form, either directly onto the blog or via Facebook, Twitter or SMS.
"Social media, simply, will be the best way to reach - and hold - our audience for the competition," says Roman's Pizza MD John Nicolakakis. "A great many of our customers are young, tech-savvy people who regularly use social media. It's fast, informative and cost-effective - and the word-of-mouth value of social media over more traditional above-the-line advertising cannot be overestimated."
For Nicolakakis, a competition to find the best joke of the year is a logical next step in marketing the brand. "The product has long been associated with funny advertising, such as our advertisements with singer Robbie Wessels and our more recent character, Ditzy Doris. Humour informs the brand and it therefore makes sense to incorporate it into a competition."
He stresses that the competition will be entirely democratic, and the eventual winner will be decided solely by public vote. "Humour is a very personal thing and while a joke may be a gag to some, it might make others want to gag. By leaving the voting to the public, we will ensure that the winning joke will be the one with the greatest universal appeal," he says.
Nicolakakis warns, though, that apart from being funny, jokes submitted should also be original and not be offensive. Go to www.romanspizza.co.za to log into the blog.
