Pizza Pizza’s “Dip Roller” is the latest in a long line of promotions specifically designed to help the country’s leading quick service pizza brand connect with its fans.

The stunt, developed with AOR Zulu Alpha Kilo and launched last week, was developed in part based on social listening done by the brand that showed how a quarter of its social media mentions were tied directly into its creamy garlic dipping sauce – a sales leader for the brand since its introduction in the 90s.

“We know Canadians are passionate about dips – 86% say they dip their pizza at least some of the time, and it does drive purchase intent and where they choose to buy their pizza from,” explains Amber Winters, the brand’s director of marketing. “Because we know that this resonates with them and translates back to our sales, we tried to find inspiration in what our customers are already talking about, responding to and actively purchasing, and acknowledge that in a really clever way.”

Pizza Pizza is almost ubiquitous, with more than 700 franchise locations across Canada. Brand actions like the “Dip Rollers” stunt – as well as its “Singles for Singles” campaign on Valentine’s Day and “Fixed-Rate Pizza” campaign amid rising inflation – help the brand in maintaining its position as the country’s leading QSR for pizza.

“Because we’re so well-entrenched in the Canadian market and continue to grow and expand coast-to-coast, we love to find ways to tap into what’s meaningful to Canadians and connect back to them in culturally relevant ways,” explains Winters. “Having that connection makes us more memorable, which continues to drive our dominance in the category.”

All of these efforts represent an evolution of the brand’s marketing to help it better connect with its expansive audience, and they all fall under the umbrella of the brand’s larger “Everyone Deserves Pizza” initiative, which aims to be “really inclusive.”

“Pizza is such a fun food and you can connect it back to social gatherings, celebrations, or even just as something that cheers someone up on a tough day,” Winters explains. “A person can be from any walk of life and deserve pizza at any given time. We aim to create those moments for people – and have a bit of fun along the way, too.”

The “Dip Roller” campaign is currently running across OLV, social, digital and OOH. Creative drives to the campaign’s microsite, where Canadians can enter until April 30 for a chance to win one of the Dip Roller devices, while a few will also be made available to win as social drops across the brand’s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok channels.

Media Experts handled the paid media planning, while spPR handled the PR for the campaign.