Filling up on hand-tossed testimonials with Hideaway Pizza.
The Hideaway Pizza aesthetic is proudly “extra.” Kites adorn the ceilings and walls. Their favorite color is tie-dye. Every location showcases a custom collage reflecting the local community. The vibe echoes the college atmosphere of the original location in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Hideaway has fed generations, so when we were tasked to elevate their design and messaging to reflect that of a growing, regional pizzeria brand, we cleaned up the logo, introduced fresh, fun typography and visual elements to the brand design, and had a blast writing fun, clever, humorous brand copy to give voice to the Hideaway experience.
For our greatest inspiration, we went to the source—online customer reviews and social post hashtags—to use (with permission) real quotes from real fans of the brand. And when we read a review in which a Hideaway lover exclaimed, “SERIOUSLY GREAT PIZZA!” we knew we’d found a brand theme that would be embraced by all.
All of the “stuff” in Hideaway is just stuff. Their passionate fans don’t come in droves for the kites and tie-dye. They come for the pizza. The SERIOUSLY GREAT pizza (and fried mushrooms). So we focused the campaign on delicious photography and videography of professionally styled pizzas, with serious voiceover reading actual reviews and hashtags from Hideaway aficionados across the country, with a musical theme provided by Norman, Oklahoma band, Applied Music Program. When we presented the Seriously Great brand refresh, we had audio of the brand manifesto produced, and HIdeaway leadership loved it so much, with a couple of tweaks, we turned it into their on-hold message! It was the first time in Hideaway history that customers asked to be put BACK on hold to finish listening to it!
Hideaway’s mascot is “Kahuna,” named after the founder’s nickname, and… basically copied from a comic strip character named “The Shmoo,” with a wild mess of hair added to him. We crafted an origin story that Kahuna is pizza dough brought to life. Hideaway ownership wanted to stick with “Kahuna is whatever you want him to be.” But that’s coward talk. We’re going with the dough story. It’s way better. And way better artwork than any other in Kahuna’s history was produced with us by one time SpongeBob Comics illustrator Gregg Schigiel, who not only gave Kahuna a truly professional makeover, but illustrated the sole issue of Kahuna Comics, a combination coloring comic book and kids menu: “A Trip to Sweetza-Land!”
Hideaway Pizza’s historic design aesthetic could be generously described as “good enough.” Again, folks ain’t goin’ there for the Comic Sans menu. We took it to heart to provide Hideaway an elevated brand look and voice that reflected the quality of the cuisine while also being an authentic evolution of its existing equity. A super classy redesign of their Hideaway ’57 Ale. All kinds of fresh apparel. Along with the branding, we even helped assemble the playlist for Hideaway Pizza Radio, a custom radio station produced in collaboration with Robot House client TheSpyFM.com! It truly was the world’s most delicious mixtape.
A delicious brand experience deserves a delicious brand. And though Hideaway doesn’t deliver, we were more than proud of our efforts to deliver a groundbreaking campaign in collaboration with their internal marketing team, Simon Hurst Photography, Digital DK videography, and PEAK Media. It was a monumental, and monumentally fun, creative effort that truly checked all of our (to-go) boxes, and was named ‘Best of Broadcast’ by the judges at the 2018 Oklahoma ADDY Awards!
If now is the right time to search Brave New Worlds for your brand, we’d love to discover if we’re the right travel companion for you. Let us know where you’d like to go.
