Whitewater, WI—Toppers Pizza creates a new role in an effort to confront important topics like corporate restructuring, ingredient integrity, BDSM, copyright infringement and more.
Over the course of 23 separate videos set to roll out via social media, the newly appointed CPO takes aim at “Big Pizza’s” stale approach under the recurring tagline “Served Up Wisconsin Style.”
“From the outset, our goal was to recapture a little swagger for our brand and connect it to the next generation of pizza lovers,” says CEO and founder of Toppers, Scott Gittrich.
Played by improv comedian, Katie Incardona, each spot takes place inside the CPO’s office, appropriately appointed with a fresh basil plant among other pizza-related paraphernalia. “The scenarios were purposefully contained in order to allow Katie the opportunity to add her own sense of humor,” says Peter Rodick, creative director at Darling Makery. “She has a lot of range, and we just wanted to let her run with it.”
And run she does.
In one spot, she sits defiantly behind a Scarface-esque mound of white powder, disgusted that some pizza chains would stoop so low as to use modified food starch in their cheese. In another, she gets carried away while demonstrating the love Toppers puts into its hand-kneaded (and gently flogged) dough. She even resorts to mail theft.
“She’s a bit of a maverick—an underdog if you will—and that’s how we see ourselves. We have to do things better, in order to stand out from our competition,” says Mac Malchow, Toppers Director of National Marketing & Menu Innovation.
The series coincides with new in-store display materials, pizza boxes and a menu redesign that will roll out across all 70 Toppers locations throughout the upper Midwest and beyond.
For additional information about the campaign production or detailed plans for rollout, please contact Blake Padberg, blake@darlingmakery.com.
Darling Makery is a creatively driven, independent agency, specializing in brand development and campaign launch. We aim to build our own brand through a collaborative working style and a prolific, ideas-first mentality. With expertise in travel & hospitality, healthcare, pets and beer & spirits, we work to make our clients the darlings of their audience.
As professionals and human beings, we value independence, accountability and fulfillment. Our office on St. Louis’ Cherokee Street, in the heart of Antique Row, is surrounded by artists, shopkeepers, musicians, a wide variety of restaurants and most importantly, inspiration.