Showcase Insights Insight Post

R99 meal madness how real customers made Roman's go viral

theSalt Activate mobilised a tiered army of real South African creators and everyday shoppers to buy the Feaster Deal, use it in a genuine occasion, and tell their own networks, sustained across a six-week, payday-to-payday window. The outcome: total platform saturation, a Grade A+ sentiment score, and a return on ad spend of 10.12x.
Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal customer holding a pizza box

Table of contents

01
The challenge: A value message that had to be believed, not just announced
02
The approach: Human voices at scale, deployed at volume
03
The results against KPI
04
What customers said
05
The mechanism: Why customer voices beat broadcast here
06
The platform: The infrastructure behind the customer voice
07
FAQs
08
Start the conversation

01 - The challenge

A value message that had to be believed, not just announced

South Africa's quick-service category is loud, promotion-heavy and deeply price-sensitive. In a tight economy, every brand is shouting "value," and a tactical offer can vanish into the noise the moment it launches. The brief was to make the Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal land as the smart, obvious choice, not just another discount, but a deal demonstrated in real hands, in real homes, at the precise moments South Africans decide what to eat.

02 - The approach

Human voices at scale, deployed at volume

theSalt Activate ran a low-touch, scalable advocacy model engineered to convert: purchase, content, visibility, craving, demand. Real consumers bought the Feaster Deal themselves, experienced it in a genuine occasion, created first-person content, and shared it across their own feeds, groups and DMs, where peers actually make decisions.
The activation leaned deliberately into volume and frequency. A tiered mix of micro creators, nano creators and verified everyday shoppers kept Roman's Pizza constantly present across the full six weeks, anchored to paydays and weekends when the decision to order runs hottest. Demand, the strategy held, does not come from occasional visibility; it comes from constant presence.

Two simple, repeatable content routes

Route 1, the feaster deal on its own

One large pizza from the Feaster Range at a single, unmistakable value price

Route 2, the feaster deal with the Pepsi upgrade

The same deal, with the 2L add-on framed as the smart 'silver upgrade.'

Both routes ensured clear pricing communication, qualifying-range clarity, a strong call to action, and relatable lifestyle integration.

Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal close-up Customer sharing Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal outdoors Family enjoying Roman's Pizza at home Customer recommending Roman's Pizza

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03 - The results against KPI

Every awareness and traffic target cleared, and the conversation owned

Customers were activated at scale and the full campaign completed organically in just two days. Every participant demonstrated personal product usage, producing a high volume of authentic consumer-generated content distributed across their own social networks. Measured against the campaign KPIs:

10.12x

Return on ad spend (Meta)

A note on transaction quality: Meta order volume reached roughly 81% of its unit target, while average basket value ran well ahead of expectation, fewer orders but materially bigger baskets, which is what lifted the overall return. TikTok won on traffic volume; Meta won on transaction quality; together the multi-platform split captured the full funnel.

Hands using a laptop to review campaign performance

1.5x

Purchase-conversion value against its target.

1,375

Pieces of authentic content, audited across TikTok (35%), Instagram (34%), Facebook (31%) and YouTube (1%).

2 Days

Full campaign completed in 2-days.

  • 2.6x TikTok awareness against its impressions target.
  • 2.5x TikTok link clicks against target, at roughly 2.5x better cost-efficiency than planned.
  • 100% Platform saturation rate
  • 8.8/10 Sentiment score, Grade A+
  • 1.5x National awareness vs goal
  • theSalt backend engagement and sales army added bottom-funnel support via verified proof-of-purchase uploads.

Top performing content

Customers enjoying Roman's Pizza at a restaurant Customer sharing the value of the Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal Social comment recommending Roman's Pizza

04 - What customers said

Sentiment and intent, in their own words

Beyond reach, the clearest signal was sentiment: 90% positive, 8% neutral, 2% negative. The comments showed intent, not just approval, "I'm on my way!!!", "Buying this asap", "Definitely getting mine asap", proof that the content shortened the distance from digital discovery to a physical store visit. Just as telling was the loyalty language: customers thanked the brand for holding value "in this economy," called it "my favourite," and used recurring phrases like "Roman's has always been my fighter" and "they understand the assignment." The audience read Roman's Pizza as a trusted value ally, not another promotional ad.
Customer comments from the Roman's Pizza Feaster Deal campaign

The takeout: 90% positive, 8% neutral, 2% negative

A high-volume, high-frequency activation that combined authentic storytelling with peer-to-peer trust, moving people from craving to checkout.

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05 - The mechanism

Why customer voices beat broadcast here

In a sceptical, price-driven category, proximity beats reach. When someone you actually know shows you a deal is worth it, it lands differently to a produced ad.

Customer voice marketing

  • Real, verified consumers using the product
  • Honest, first-person experience from a genuine occasion
  • Conversations happen in feeds, groups and DMs
  • Credibility compounds with volume and frequency
Customers enjoying Roman's Pizza together
Traditional produced advertising on a film set

Traditional category advertising

  • Brand asserts the product is good
  • Polished, produced, distribution-ready
  • Performance tied to the media buy
  • Lower trust in a sceptical category
Real purchase equals real credibility: every shopper bought the product, experienced the deal, created content from a real moment, and shared a real recommendation. That is what turned advertising into advocacy.

06 - The platform: 700,000+ members

The infrastructure behind the customer voice

Campaigns like this are made possible by the network underneath them: a community of 700 000+ real, vetted South African consumers, matched to briefs with precision and producing content the brand owns outright. Because the brand retains full usage rights indefinitely, every asset becomes part of a permanent, evergreen library, keeping Roman's Pizza top-of-mind between major campaigns at no additional cost.

07 - FAQs

Questions brand marketers ask about this campaign

How did a value promotion cut through without leaning on a single hero ad?
Through volume and credibility. More than 1,375 real customer and creator pieces saturated the conversation across four platforms, so the deal was demonstrated continuously rather than announced once.
How fast does this kind of momentum build?
The model is built for sustained presence. Frequency across a tiered creator-and-shopper mix kept the brand dominant for the full six-week window, peaking around paydays and weekends.
How is it measured?
Trackable creator content, platform reporting and verified proof-of-purchase uploads tie social discovery directly to point-of-sale. The awareness, traffic and conversion numbers above are measured against pre-set KPIs.
Does the brand own the content produced?
Yes. Brands retain full usage rights to content produced through theSalt campaigns, available to repurpose across owned, paid and future activity.

If you're not in the conversation, you're still being talked about.

Your next campaign is already in theSalt's network

More than 700,000 real South Africans, profiled, verified and ready to talk about brands they genuinely connect with. With theSalt Activate, customer voices are accessible at a speed and price point that changes what is possible.

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Albert Makoeng
Albert Makoeng
Albert is a seasoned performance Influencer Marketing expert with 16 years of experience in marketing, media, digital advertising & sponsorship. Albert has held senior positions at DStv, BBC, ESPN and led teams across 20 African markets.