Fixed-rate pizza? Canadian chain tackles inflation in new campaign

Canadian pizza chain Pizza Pizza has a cheesy answer to rising inflation—fixed-rate pizza.

A new campaign offers Canadians the opportunity to lock in an XL four-topping pizza at $16.99 for up to a year, with no price increases, via a special website. Customers who wish to apply can fill out a short questionnaire on the website—with questions like “Do you like pizza?” and “Do you dislike inflation?”—for pre-approval.

The inflation-busting offer includes an ad from agency Zulu Alpha Kilo that references surging inflation. The approach, which mimics financial marketing, encourages consumers to “lock into a 1-year fixed rate.” The media buy includes TV, YouTube and digital out-of-home.

Consumer inflation in Canada rose 7.7% during the year period ending in  May, the largest yearly increase since January 1983, according to CPI data.

The effort is an extension of Pizza Pizza's "Everyone Deserves Pizza" campaign, also by Zulu Alpha Kilo, that plays into the notion that everyone has the right to delicious pizzas that suit their tastes, price point, delivery method and location.

“As Canada’s ubiquitous pizza brand, it felt right to take a category-level stance like Everyone Deserves Pizza. Fixed-Rate Pizza is the perfect demonstration of our willingness to ensure everyone can have pizza, while staying true to our fun and accessible brand personality,” Adrian Fuoco, VP of marketing at Pizza Pizza, stated in a press release.

“Pizza Pizza is in a unique position to be real with Canadians, but in a way that shows we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” said Brian Murray, executive creative director at Zulu Alpha Kilo.

The 55-year-old Pizza Pizza chain has more than 730 locations throughout Canada and will be expanding to Mexico this year, according to the company.