Mellow Mushroom Pizza Celebrates 50 Years with Epic Campaign

Mellow Mushroom Pizza, together with creative agency 160over90, has launched its biggest campaign ever to celebrate the brand's 50 years of pizza-making. 

The marketing initiative, "A Higher Order of Pizza," seeks to entice audiences both old and new by touting its superb quality, its unique in-store atmosphere, and flexible customer experience. 

Notably, it also showcases the brand's most recent rebrand, which it introduced last year. 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Mellow Mushroom (@mellowmushroom)

The hero spot, named after the campaign, starts by debunking the meaning behind a "higher order of pizza."

"It starts with our exceptional dough, which has been perfected over 50 years," the narrator explains.

"Then, they put the freshest ingredients on top before stone baking it to create an "out of this world pizza." 

Through a series of vignettes, the spot showcases various types of customers enjoying their offering, as it is the type of pizza that makes one go, "damn, that's good."

According to the narrator, this goodness is all part of the Mellow Mushroom Experience.

Other spots in the ad series tend to be more experimental in theme while maintaining the same tone of quirkiness.

In "Higher Ground," a man and his roommate eat pizza before one tells the other a joke.

"What do you call a fake pizza? A 'pepper phony,'" he says. 

Met with eye-rolls, it's then revealed that the man was enjoying a "higher order of pizza," thus the jokes. 

In "Transaction," a cashier in a run-of-the-mill pizza parlor announces a pizza order but is met with dead reactions. 

"Some pizza places are all about the transaction. Get you in the door, get you out," the narrator says.

However, at Mellow Mushroom, it's all about the experience thanks to its "vibes" and stone-baked pizza.

"Pop the Top" takes a different approach, touting the brand's colorful pizza box designs, as well as what's inside it.

"At Mellow Mushroom, we have some rather attractive designs on our boxes. But it is a box, it's pretty much what you'd expect," the narrator explains.

However, when this box is popped, the pizza is anything but the expected.

Making Meaningful Connections

The latest efforts from the pizza joint were born out of a desire to use new creative content to create meaningful connections with existing audiences.

At the same time, it wants to introduce its refreshed brand to a new audience, Mellow Mushroom SVP of Brand Development Anne Mejia said in a statement. 

Mejia praised 160over90 for understanding the need to elicit an emotional response and focus on the brand's goal, which is to bring together its "key tenants" of pizza, people, and passion.

160over90 SVP of Video Production Anderson Bradshaw elaborates on the idea behind the campaign. 

"From disruptive, scripted scenes that are laced with humor to the hero product-focused shorts, we saw the assets as a primary vehicle to reinforce Mellow Mushroom’s unique points of differentiation and establish a growth path for their brand’s narrative," Bradshaw shared.

"Above all, we wanted the campaign to remind the audience that pizza is — and should be — fun, and no brand understands that better than Mellow Mushroom," he concluded.

READ NEXT: Papa John's Latest Ad Is a Trippy Celebration of Pizza

Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang