Tombstone (pizza)
Tombstone is a brand of frozen pizza. It is available with several variety toppings, including pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onions, bell peppers, and sausage. The package design typically includes images of a cactus and the pizza.
History
Tombstone was founded in Medford, Wisconsin, United States, by Pep Simek, his brother, Ron Simek, and two other individuals in 1962.[1][2] The name came from The Tombstone Tap, a tavern owned by the Simeks which was located across from a cemetery.[1][3]
In 1986, the Tombstone Pizza Company became a wholly owned but "freestanding" division of Kraft Foods. The employees who worked for Tombstone at the time were allowed to keep their jobs, although Pep and Ron Simek stepped aside from their roles in the business.[4]
On January 5, 2010, Kraft Foods announced it was selling its frozen pizza division to Switzerland-based Nestlé Foods as part of a plan to use the proceeds to purchase Cadbury, a maker of dairy milk chocolate. In addition to Tombstone, this included other pizza brands including DiGiorno, Jacks and California Pizza Kitchen (frozen pizza). The Kraft frozen pizza division is now part of Nestlé D.S.D. (direct store delivery).
Slogan
"What do you want on your Tombstone?" was created by the Chicago office of advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding, now part of the Interpublic Group of Companies'.[5] The slogan was typically used in Western advertising campaigns: a typical television commercial would ostensibly appear to be a public execution, but when the supposed executioner would ask "what do you want on your tombstone?" (i.e. an epitaph), the accused would reply along the lines of "Pepperoni and cheese." A Tombstone pizza would then be summoned.
Another slogan used in 1999 and early 2000's was "Shoulda had that Tombstone." One of the television commercials featured a teenage girl and teenage guy sitting in chair on either side of a desk next to a window in the girls bedroom doing their homework together. They look up at each other and smile. Then the camera pans under desk and we see boy wearing sneakers and white slouch socks and the girl wearing slouch socks and boat shoes. They are playing footsies. Then a door is heard opening downstairs and we see the father come in the house and say hello and call his daughter's name. The girl quickly gets a nervous look and says, "Oh no! My father's home." They both get up from the desk and look around panicking. The father is seen coming up the stairs. Then the girl is seen noticing her closet and the girl helps the boy into the closet just in time as her father opens the door and talks to the daughter. The daughter answers still nervous. The father begins to head out the door and just before he shuts it the boys stomach growls. The father steps back in and looks around and then at the daughter who smiles. Then the boys stomach growls again. The father now knows where the sound is coming from and heads over and opens the girls closet and the see the boy standing up hiding behind her clothes. He gets a stern look on his face as the boy looks up at the father then over at the daughter and back at the father as the voice over says the tagline "Shoulda had that Tombstone." [6]
See also
References
- 1 2 Uebelherr, Jay (2013-02-20). "Joseph Simek was a founder of Tombstone Pizza". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ↑ "Tombstone Pizza co-founder Joseph Simek dies". Green Bay Press Gazette. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ↑ History of Pep's Pizza and Originator Pep Simek
- ↑ Tombstone Pizza Corporation Company History
- ↑ Ramirez, Anthony (18 January 1991). "So Far, U.S. Industry Finds It's Business as Usual: Advertising; Culling Ideas That May Offend". The New York Times. p. 4. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ↑ http://adage.com/article/news/tombstone-rings-dip-snacktime/59040/
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