The Pizza Shop That Went Viral by Making People Chase Lunch
Founder and Head of Growth, White Label Comedy
Why did a tiny pizza shop's video get 44,900 likes when its usual posts barely broke a couple of hundred?
Spectacle. Glide Pizza sent someone into the street in a bright yellow morph suit with a QR code over their face, and handed out free pizza only to people who could catch them and scan it. The free pizza helped, but it was the sheer entertainment of the chase that made the whole thing spread far beyond their usual reach.
The stunt
Picture the marketing meeting. "You want me to run around town in a bright yellow morph suit, with a giant foam box on my head?" Yes. "It will have a QR code covering your face, and if someone manages to scan it, they get free pizza. Just dodge them a bit, so it is hard to scan."
That was the campaign. A person in costume, a QR code, and free pizza for anyone quick enough to catch them.
The numbers
Glide's usual posts pulled a couple of hundred likes. The video of people chasing down free pizza pulled 44,900 and counting. Potential customers posted about it all over social media, local news outlets picked up the story, and the little two-location shop started selling pizzas out the wazoo.
Why the free pizza was not the reason
Here is the trap. It is tempting to conclude "people love free stuff" and stop there. But we have all walked straight past someone handing out free tasters in the street. Free, on its own, does not spread.
What spread was the hilarity and the spectacle. Chasing a costumed stranger for a slice is fun to do and, crucially, fun to watch. The entertainment is what pulled thousands of people in, not the discount.
The transferable lesson
Entertainment is the multiplier. You do not need a QR code or a morph suit. You need to find the fun in something you are already doing, then dial it up until people want to watch and share it.
Layer hilarity and spectacle onto an ordinary campaign and it stops being marketing people ignore and becomes content people pass around, and that news outlets cover for free.
Work with us
Creating comedy-powered campaigns like this is exactly what we do. We can build one from scratch, or layer hilarity and spectacle onto something you already have, so your marketing earns attention and brings in new customers.
If you would like our team of comedy writers to build something people actually want to watch for your brand, work with us.
Adam Hunt
Founder and Head of Growth at White Label Comedy. He spends his days convincing serious brands that funny is the most profitable thing they're not doing.
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