When I started working with frozen pizza brand Freschetta in 2016 at Periscope, it had been years since they’d advertised and they were losing shelf space to new competitors in the category. While our team was developing a new position, campaign and new packaging, we were asked to get in front of consumers fast to help buoy awareness and sales. Our audience was primarily Millennial and Gen X females who, according to previous research, liked the simplicity and perceived quality of Freschetta, and would sometimes add their own ingredients to plus up their meal. Reaching these people with pizza and food modification content seemed to be a great fit for Instagram, and Freschetta had squatted on a handle, but never used the platform.

After brainstorming and presenting content focused on the pillars of products, lifestyle, and personalization, we spent two days at Periscope’s content studio shooting and filming enough content to fill the calendar for four months. Working with our media team, we posted content organically and promoted it with both reach and engagement objectives.

Our results? People love pizza in their feed, and responded positively to suggestions on how to add their own seasonal flairs using herbs, veggies, and fine cheeses. Even ads that weren’t targeted for interactions regularly had posts earn an engagement rates between 3 and 5%.

The most successful of the bunch was a Bachelor finale post (using my hands as talent) featuring an engagement ring topped with a small ceramic piece of pizza. People loved it – hundreds of people tagged friends in the comments, and a few fans reached out to us asking for a ring for themselves. We happily sent a few out.

Objectives: keep Freschetta top of mind during extended period of minimal media spend

Strategy: get our target consumers craving Freschetta with their own flavor flourishes

Tactics: organic and targeted Instagram content

Outcome: consistently high engagement