To answer a surge in demand and keep its consumers engaged in its signature weird-yet-amusing way, Pizza Pops recently hosted a digital scavenger hunt.

Instead of your typical CPG contest fare, participants have been attempting to guess a secret website URL, all based on clues in digital ads they may be served across the internet. It also included “red herring” pages poking fun at the more obvious guesses. The prize is a year’s supply of Pizza Pops – or, as the campaign referred to it, an “All-You-Should-Probably-Eat-In-A-Year” supply.

According to Liana Condotta, marketing communications manager for Pizza Pops at General Mills Canada, Pizza Pops refers to its consumers as “dudes.” Despite its gendered connotation, it’s more of a casual, fun-loving mindset that is split between males and females, ages 13 to 24. The main objective of the digital scavenger hunt is to connect with these dudes, who are “very loyal and engaged” to the Pizza Pops brand.

“We know that our dudes are at home and they’re bored. We know that everyone is sort of struggling with isolation. They’re limited in what they can do,” she says. “[With] Pizza Pops, we feel we need to show up in a way that really feels genuine and helpful. We believe our role in this pandemic is to keep people entertained.”

Throughout the pandemic, Pizza Pops has been ramping up supplies as it has faced unprecedented demand according to Condotta. “They’re not able to have access to restaurants and all of the other food amenities that they usually have at their fingertips,” she says. Condotta adds that since there has been a surge in demand, the brand wanted to give away product as a form of wish fulfilment for its fans. “We’re finding a clever way to ensure that we’re getting product into their hands.”

Pizza Pops also put out unbranded banner ads of weird images with a call to action to click, rewarding those who do with free products. As part of efforts to stay engaged with fans stuck at home, the brand is letting them “Facetime a Pizza Pop,” who will chat from a kitchen, basement or even a bathroom.

Condotta says digital has always been the number one platform Pizza Pops uses to connect with its consumers, as it is where they spend the majority of their time, even more true while isolating at home.

The campaign was created by Cossette – apparently, the URL was so secret that the agency and client never discussed it – and wrapped up on July 5. The contest URL was going to be kept live until a winner cracked it, but Condotta told strategy that someone had figured it out by Monday afternoon after submitting five guesses. Condotta estimates that, over the two-week period of the contest, Pizza Pops had tens of thousands of submissions.