Putting 21,000 pizzas in 21,000 mouths
First, some %%context%%...
“Freshly made dough, double fermented and cooked in an imported oven for a soft, light and floppy bake.”
Couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
Rudy’s make Neapolitan pizza. Like, really good Neapolitan pizza.
They’ve grown a cult-like following up and down the country, and in 2024 we’ve worked with them to bring more people into ‘la famiglia’.
What did we %%do%% about it?
We created a three-stage paid social strategy that we could roll out rapidly for each opening. While there are always contextual tweaks per location, this follows the same format each time:
1. TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT IT
This may be difficult to believe, but there are still some people who don’t know what Rudy’s is. Seriously.
The initial activity focuses on building awareness in the local area - what Rudy’s is, where it’s going to be openingand when it’s going to open. All the fun stuff. All creative and messaging is designed to not only excite people who've had the pleasure of a Rudy’s and have been patiently waiting for it to open near them, but also get the mouths of the less-informed drooling .
2. PIZZAS IN MOUTHS
When opening a new restaurant, Rudy’s run the now-iconic “Pizza on Us”.
The clue’s in the title - sign up to Rudy’s mailing list ahead of the opening and you’ll bag yourself a free Rudy's as part of a soft launch. When the doors are ready to open, slots are released and it’s first-come-first-served to get that hallowed spot at the table.
Once we’ve raised awareness of the opening, we move into building up these sign-ups to create a solid local database, and further increase anticipation.
3. FILL THE PLACE
Because no one wants an empty restaurant.
The final stage, once live, is to make sure the restaurant is buzzing . At this point, we switch to conversion-based creative and messaging to drive people to book a table and visit the restaurant.
Fancy a pizza this?
We still work with Mission Mars on both their Rudy’s and Albert’s Schloss brands, covering everything from paid Meta advertising to PPC and display.
We've recently launched the flagship Albert's Schloss site on Shaftesbury Avenue - more details to come!
The %%Challenge%%
Back in the days of Teletext and Chucklevision, the only way to get authentic Neapolitan pizza was to hop on a quick and totally convenient plane to Naples.
But Neapolitan pizza has been the UK’s most popular food trend for several years now, meaning restaurants and vendors have been springing up in every major city and suburb. Rudy’s have been at the forefront of this movement, and have taken extra steps to ensure that they are truly authentic:
- They’re accredited by Association of True Neapolitan Pizza (AVPN)
- They use authentic ingredients like Caputo flour
- They import traditional ovens handmade by Stefano Ferrara
Alongside retained work, we were tasked with supporting them in all their new launches. So in all of our activity, we needed to differentiate Rudy’s from the rest of crowded market. We also needed to be able to move quickly, as Rudy’s is growing quicker than Japanese Knotweed.
So what? Does it work?
21,000
Pizzas given away
11.68%
Highest CTR
26,165
Website sessions
1,501,602
Pizza lovers reached
The not-so-subtle social proof
Gabby D'Alessandro
Head of Digital
