I went to Pizza Express this evening and was presented with the 'new look' menus. Initially all I saw was a blurry image of a couple on the front of a menu, no logo and the digital information of the photograph running down the side of the image. I was completley thrown, Pizza Express usually has highly illustrated covers to their menu and to be confronted with a holiday snap seemed to be completely unsuitable. However, I was wrong. When you open the menu the first thing you see is...
For me this blurb tied everything together and justified the holiday snapshot style of the front cover. The blurb reads '...Not the Rome from postcards, but the real Rome.' In context this suggests that the new pizzas and the new menu reflect a true glimpse of rome and doesn't sugarcoat or touch-up real life.
This is a really bold design and although I initially hated the fuzzy and cheesy images they really strengthen the concept. My only issue with some of the imagery is that while some look genuine, others look blatantly staged (which completley goes against the idea of reflecting the real Rome). Other than that this is a really strong concept.
5 comments:
Looking at the menu, it starts to grow on you. When the consumer is confronted with the menu, they will definitely take a second look at the photos. I could imagine Rome then becoming a topic of conversation at many meal times. I agree with staged photos looking cheesey, but then again aren't most holiday snaps a bit cheesey? The menu definitely separates itself away from the other rivals such as Zizzis, Prezzo etc.
A good way to enforce a 'personal' feel between themselves and their customers, any form of mission statement relating to 'genuine' cuisine, i.e ingredients, method of cooking, tradition etc generally seems to lead to my trust of a brand. For them to create a link between Rome, with all of its Italian historic links to pizza/pasta dining allows them to market themselves as pizza...the proper way!
I am glad you've published this menu, I myself have been intrigued with food and drink culture and feel it is a vast and ever-developing world of visual stimulation with many different food 'genre's' worth exploring.
I too noticed these new menus during a stop over in birmingham and I thought it was a strong concept but could have been executed better.
I just love images like these being in places where you dont really expect them. Check out the virgin ads that use flickr images on our blog.
I can see the idea and that it's been executed well im just not sure whether i like it, from a design point of view i like to look at a nice menu not some holiday snaps - im torn.
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