HELL Launches ‘Doobious’ Pizza With Hydroponic Billboard

Yarn has helped HELL launch a Doobious pizza, which is accompanied by a custom grinder and baggie of dried herbs, with a hydroponic installation on Auckland's iconic 'K Road'.

Doobious is a pizza that comes with its own custom grinder and a baggie of dried herbs – and a message that cannabis use is evolving in Aotearoa, but the stigma hasn’t.

Doobious is topped with Kiwi farmed free-range pulled pork, crispy onion rings, and a BBQ and chipotle sauce. The baggie of dried sage and oregano is designed to be freshly ground and sprinkled on top.

Fitted out with UV lighting, reflective film, ventilation ducting, and rows of suspicious-looking herbs, the outdoor installation generated plenty of buzz from onlookers and has become a striking visual spectacle to promote the new product offering.

Developed by Yarn in collaboration with Sneakers Media, Shout Media Inject Design and Thorn PR, the campaign taps directly into the culture of HELL’s audience and lives up the brand’s disruptive legacy.

Yarn co-ECD and partner Matt Sellars told LBB the campaign came from developing HELL's new brand platform last year

"'A pizza that comes with a herb grinder’ was one of those ideas that made it onto the agency wall, but the timing wasn’t quite right," Matt said.

"A few months after launch, we heard about an upcoming ‘session’ on new product development. The stars suddenly aligned with the HELL team, excited about creating a pizza that would pair perfectly with dried herbs, and the opportunity to tap into the country’s cannabis culture.

He added HELL has a legacy of "daring marketing antics", with the best having a serious purpose behind them. 

"Back in 2020, New Zealand was only a few puffs shy of decriminalising cannabis through a referendum (48.4% in favour, 50.7% opposed). Since then, medicinal use has skyrocketed, though the stigma still lingers.

"We were confident the product would spark debate. The trick was getting people’s attention first, so we built a giant hydroponic installation on one of the country’s most notorious streets, backed it with playful social content, and slipped out special ‘tinnies’ to influencers.

"Things have gone pretty crazy so far with the 5,000 herb grinders selling out in a single weekend and sales already hitting record highs. There are still plenty of baggies of herb left; customers just need to break apart the herb themselves. But there’s no shortage of green fingers out there."

Josh Drake, HELL CEO, said Doobious reflected that while more Kiwis are using cannabis medicinally, the stigma around it hasn’t gone up in smoke.

“Five years ago, Kiwis narrowly voted ‘no’ to legalising cannabis," he said. "Since then, medicinal use has skyrocketed, but many people still hide their use on the down low because, as a nation, we don’t know how to talk about it.

“There’s a massive disconnect for Kiwis using medicinal cannabis that’s worth highlighting. Medicinal use is legal, but more than half of medicinal users haven’t asked for a prescription. Mostly because it’s too expensive or because they think their doctor would turn them down.”

Beyond medicinal use, cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug in Aotearoa, and use continues to increase across all age groups, including among those aged over 55, with a sharp increase in reported ‘at least weekly’ use among women. The majority of people who responded to the most recent annual NZ Drug Trends survey also support a regulated cannabis market -- or decriminalising it -- over the status quo.

Josh said that, like the edible herbs on Doobious, New Zealand is known as one of the best places in the world to grow cannabis, yet the local medical industry struggles with high costs and strict regulations, despite the medicinal benefits.

“People use cannabis to manage everything from the side effects of chemotherapy, the pain of endometriosis, epilepsy, to insomnia and sports injuries; but those who buy it illegally do so because prescription products are out of reach. Meanwhile, domestic medical-grade growers export overseas because the local market is so hard to navigate.

“In launching Doobious, we’re not saying pizza should be part of drug reform… but maybe it will kickstart a much overdue conversation about medicinal cannabis and its place in our society.”

The campaign follows ABEL's July installation for the Cannabis Clinic, which leveraged the iconic imagery of shoes on a power line in its own OOH installation to combat the stigma of cannabis use in New Zealand.

Doobious is available from today until sold out, with just 5,000 custom HELL herb grinders up for grabs. A Doobious double costs $28.50, and a snack size $15.