London pizza in the late 2010s moved faster than most kitchens could. The big delivery chains owned the doorstep, the aggregator apps owned the phone, and a new wave of fast-casual pizzerias owned the conversation.
Firezza made fresh, stonebaked pizza from restaurants across London, and the pizza was never the problem. The problem was being heard. Firezza was struggling to get its message of quality across and, more worryingly, was at risk of fading into irrelevance in a market that was changing around it.
We started by mapping the market, not the menu. Branded delivery from the big chains was growing steadily, aggregators were giving unbranded kitchens mainstream access, and delivery was growing at 24.6% a year against 6.9% for restaurants. Underground kitchens and pop-ups were chasing the same customers.
Then we got to work on Firezza itself. It had no real brand, just a logo and no guidelines, and what it did have made it look posh and expensive when it wanted to feel young. So we doubled down on what it already had, a good name, a good core and awesome pizza, and built the brand up from there.
We started with the tangible: menus and posters, refined into proper brand guidelines. Then we pushed the boat out with a collection menu, a newspaper menu and a prototype interactive menu, specialist pizza and event photography, and a steady run of promotions, videos and offers to drive traffic.
For the Dean Street opening we storyboarded a launch film that follows a customer from Tottenham Court Road into Soho, past the counter and through the kitchen to the table, ending on “Firezza, a new social pizza experience”. The relationship itself started with a joke: one of our team lived directly above a branch and suggested a drone could deliver their pizza. [NEEDS INPUT FROM TOMMY]: did the drone idea ever run as a stunt, and was “Pizza for life” the brand line?
[NEEDS INPUT FROM TOMMY]: testimonial. None was found in the tracker or on the Drive.
PizzaExpress completed its acquisition of Firezza in February 2016. We redesigned the website to align with the PizzaExpress brand and its platform, and designed Firezza’s first restaurant after the acquisition. According to the tracker, the business grew to 14 branches. [NEEDS INPUT FROM TOMMY]: confirm the branch count and the years of the engagement.
Outfly, a London brand, marketing and product agency, worked with Firezza across market strategy, rebrand, menus, photography, film, promotions and a website redesign.
Start with the market, not the menu. For Firezza that meant mapping branded delivery, aggregators, fast casual and restaurant delivery, then doubling down on what it already had: a good name, a good core and awesome pizza.
A rebrand and brand guidelines, menus and posters, a newspaper menu and an interactive menu prototype, pizza and event photography, a Dean Street launch film, social promotions and a website redesign.
Firezza was bought by PizzaExpress in February 2016, and Outfly redesigned its website to align with the PizzaExpress brand and platform.
