The Three-Quarter Pizza Box
Pizza 2 Go, Red Crescent
Issue 60 | September 2021
Agency
Mullen Lowe Mena
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Paul Banham Head of Design & Creative Director Prerna Mehra Art Director James Egan Copywriter Vik Kanyo
Production Team
Producer Martina Niranjini Designer Bianca Geater Junior Designer Adila Fataliyeva
Other Credits
Chief Executive Officer Mounir Harfouche Managing Director Matt Butterworth
Date
April – May 2021
Background
The holy month of Ramadan is usually marked by fasting during the day until sunset, when Muslims can eat Iftar, the traditional evening meal.
During this time, around 25% of all food is wasted, a problem that goes against the spirit of Ramadan.
Idea
Enter the 3/4 Pizza Box, a collaboration between Red Crescent, Pizza2Go, a pizza restaurant in Dubai, and advertising agency MullenLowe MENA.
The idea was to remove a quarter of every pizza sold (and the box in which it was delivered) to both dramatise the problem and to eliminate the waste.
The pizzas could be ordered with all the usual toppings from the restaurant website as well as through all the popular delivery apps.
Customers were asked to pay a special price of AED 44 for their orders with 25% of that donated to Red Crescent to help those in need. Thus they were buying a pizza during Ramadan that didn’t just taste good, it did good too.
Instagram influencers with a combined reach of over two million followers picked up on the idea and created their own unboxing and tasting videos, encouraging others to order the three-quarter pizza for their next Iftar meal.
Results
The campaign generated 50 million media impressions and was worth $470,000 in earned media reaching 8.3 million people.
For a total cost of $780 it led to a 370% increase in sales.
Our Thoughts
This idea is so beautifully counterintuitive. Even though Muslims are expected to be charitable during the holy time of Ramadan, spending more to get less is a big ask. Lopping off an entire quarter off the box, that’s the brilliant part. It’s more than just visualised data, a demonstration of the 25% of food that gets binned, it also signals the generosity of the pizza purchaser. It’s good to be seen to be charitable. How else can you explain such a dramatic sales increase?