Creating the 5,000 Pound, Crane-Suspended Pizza Box Seen In Downtown Toronto

At the end of April, some exciting news came out of Canadian franchise Pizza Pizza with the announcement that it would be introducing XXL-sized pies to its menu. However, while news of bigger offerings is inherently tantalising, what really sold people on it was the brand’s decision to market this menu addition with a live activation: a giant, 20 by 20 foot, 5,000-pound Pizza Pizza box suspended 200 feet in the air, in downtown Toronto.

Unsurprisingly, this marketing stunt, created in partnership with the brand’s partner agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, had the desired effect. The work went viral across various media and news platforms, generating a tonne of buzz for this 18-inch diameter pizza. Further bolstered by a fun campaign spot filming the day’s madness, set to an epic choral track chanting ‘pizza’, it served as a brilliantly on the nose way of making an announcement, which, if you’re Canadian, you were probably exposed to in some capacity.

Given the unorthodox nature of this execution, and the amount of attention the campaign generated, it seemed only right to dive a bit deeper into the logistics of how something like this gets brought to life. With that in mind, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Pizza Pizza’s chief marketing officer and vice president of marketing, Adrian Fuoco, as well as the team from Zulu Alpha Kilo, including chief creative officer Brian Murray, associate creative director and art director Andrea Por, and associate creative director and writer Christina Roche, for a chat.

LBB> From the top, tell us about the decision to launch the XXL pizza. What made this the right choice for Pizza Pizza, and what made now the right time to do this?

Adrian> Each year, we review consumer habits and customer feedback to help guide our menu decisions and explore new product innovations. We consistently hear there's a strong appetite for bigger pizzas at a great value, which inspired us to test this new item. Pizza 73, one of our partner restaurants based primarily in Alberta, served as the test market, and the results were fantastic. Thanks to that success, we rolled it out across our Pizza Pizza locations earlier this year, and Canadians have been racing to devour it. It’s been a massive hit.

LBB> With that in mind, what was the brief, and how did it translate into actually crafting a giant pizza box in real life?

Brian> It’s rare nowadays to get such a simple, single-minded message in a brief. With this job, we were lucky because all we really had to communicate was that this pizza is really, really big. So, we took that away and thought about a whole slew of ways we could say just that before we landed on the giant Pizza Pizza box on a crane. We knew it would check all the boxes – it clearly communicated ‘massive’, was attention-grabbing, and it was shareable on social – which made it the perfect way to help get the word out about Pizza Pizza’s new product launch.

LBB> Of course, you don’t see something like this built every day. At what point did you even know this was feasible, and what was the strategic planning process like?

Adrian> We loved the idea immediately, but of course, with stuff like this, you’re always worried if you can afford to do it right. It was also important to us that we made this for real and with no CGI.

Christina> We may not have known exactly how we would execute this, but we were always optimistic we could pull it off. Walk along any busy street in Toronto and you’ll see construction cranes on almost every corner. So, we knew it would be possible in some form.

Working closely with our internal production team and production partners, we talked about the different ways this could come to life so that we had options to choose from and were clear about non-negotiables. We were open to the materials used, the location (so long as it was in a busy Toronto neighbourhood), and the type of crane used, but we didn’t want to compromise on the size of the box or the height of the crane. Once we realised it really was feasible, it became a matter of staying flexible and problem solving while working quickly to bring this to life.

LBB> Let’s talk about the design itself! Who did you work with on the box, and what sorts of materials were required to get it right?

Andrea> We worked with The Deli here in Toronto, which specialises in both film and experiential production. With our concept involving an out-of-home stunt and film shoot, its team were the perfect partners to help us bring this to life.

In terms of materials, they constructed the box out of aluminum framing, two by four lumber, and plywood. The box’s exterior was then wrapped in vinyl printed with our XXL artwork. In the end, the box measured at 20 by 20 feet and weighed 5,000 pounds. It was pretty epic to see!

LBB> The realism of the box really stands out. How did you ensure it looked authentic at such scale?

Andrea> The Deli’s team was great at crafting the details. Specifically, the wood structure provided some texture which helped to mimic a corrugated pizza box, while the corners were wrapped in such a way that gave it the overlapped cardboard appearance. The team even ensured a gap was visible across the entire box, making it look like it actually had a lid.

LBB> Once it was built, how did you select a location to showcase the box? What was the logistics process like?

Christina> While we intended on creating a spot, this was also a stunt, so we needed a location that was high traffic enough to make sure eyes landed on it organically, but flexible enough to allow us to shoot. We also wanted high-rise buildings to help us show the scale, so this process required a lot of legwork for our production partners to work with the city to narrow down feasible locations that met all of our needs.

LBB> From here, how did you actually move the box into position for installation, and then get it into the air? Were there cool passerby reactions in the process?

Brian> Because of its size and weight, the box had to be assembled on-site the night before. The crane arrived during assembly, was locked into place, and then a test was done to hoist it in the air. Once everything passed safety checks, the last step was to apply the vinyl artwork and cover the box, waiting for its official launch the following day.

The response to the stunt was great. We were in a neighbourhood that has a dense population, so we got a lot of organic shares all over social. People were on their balconies snapping photos, they came out to see the box up close and take even more photos, and we even had a guy with his tiny dog ask us to take their picture in front of the box.

Adrian> Activation day really was incredible. It was amazing to see the idea come to life at that scale.

One of the most memorable aspects was seeing people from the neighbourhood come out to watch, take photos, and cheer it on, which made it feel special. (It’s just a shame it wasn’t actually filled with pizza).

LBB> The spot is also fun! With all that was going on, how did you find time to capture footage and put it together, and specifically, what was the soundtracking process like?

Christina> Meticulous planning and working with the right partners meant we could do it all. With The Deli’s experience in both film and experiential, it was able to plan multiple elements and execute both the shoot and the stunt seamlessly.

As for the music, the team at Circonflex was amazing! We had a tight post-production schedule, so we needed them to work quickly. The brief was to go epic to exaggerate the ridiculousness of this massive pizza box. Of course, ‘epic’ can go in so many directions, so they went wide in terms of style before we landed on the perfect track: a choir chanting ‘pizza’ over and over again. It doesn’t get more epic than that.

LBB> Overall, what challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?

Adrian> One of the biggest challenges was just getting the city permit. Although we explored a few different areas, it turns out it’s not so easy to get approval to hang a 5,000-pound pizza box from a crane.

Brian> The most unexpected challenge we faced came up during our shoot and in the edit, where we quickly realised we may need to convince others that this box wasn’t created using AI… because these days, who’s making a 5,000-pound, 20-foot replica pizza box and hoisting it 200 feet in the air by a commercial crane?

With how great the box’s construction was, and depending on the angle of the camera, it was sometimes hard to tell that it was real – it could almost look like an AR filter/CG – so we were very thoughtful and selective with the shots that made the cut. Not only that, but in the end, we even added a super to let viewers know this was, in fact, a real, huge box.

LBB> What lessons have you learned from the making of this campaign?

Andrea> Simple and silly advertising can still resonate with an audience. It felt like we were going a little old-school with the stunt, and people really gravitated towards it.

It also reiterated for us the value of not wavering on the creative vision. Easier-to-execute alternatives were out there, but we were determined to make this massive pizza box happen and we found the partners who were able to help us make it a reality.

Adrian> An item like this naturally lends itself to great creative ideas. It’s an unusually large pizza which is kind of funny and interesting. So, it’s about remembering to always take advantage of the inherent nature of the product and have a creative solution that does it justice, while ultimately driving interest and sales.

We also learned that the investment in time and resources to bring this to ‘real life’ was worth it. This concept could have been attempted with CGI, however, the engagement really kicked off from the time of the shoot due to the sheer spectacle of it, which made it all worth the effort.

LBB> Finally, with all this said and done, have you taken the time to try an XXL pizza?

Brian> Of course! It’s surprisingly fun to eat.

Christina> Sure did… With extra Creamy Garlic Dipping Sauce, of course. IYKYK.