California Pizza Kitchen has partnered with Made, a marketing agency that specializes in brand transformation, to launch “Mind Blown,” CPK’s most comprehensive campaign to date, spotlighting the surprisingly awesome flavor of Cauliflower Pizza Crust. 

California Pizza Kitchen has a long history of culinary innovation since its founding in Beverly Hills, California in 1985. Known for introducing the world to California-style pizza in which creative flavors, ingredients, regions and cultures collide, CPK created menu items such as the Original BBQ Chicken and Thai Chicken pizzas that spurred culinary trends.

Now, CPK and Made have teamed to celebrate one of CPK’s latest pizza innovations, Cauliflower Pizza Crust, with an integrated ad campaign including video, out-of-home, digital and supporting media that highlight the delicious flavor of cauliflower pizza crust made from the unlikely yet versatile vegetable. California Pizza Kitchen was the first national restaurant brand to introduce Cauliflower Pizza Crust in 2018, offering a flavorful, veggie-based crust option suitable for gluten-free diets as well as those simply looking to add more vegetables to their diet. Cauliflower Pizza Crust is available for dine-in, take out, delivery and Take and Bake Pizzas, the brand’s latest offering.

“This campaign doesn’t look like anything else in the category,” says Dave Schiff, founder and chief creative officer of Made. “But it’s not different for different’s sake. It’s all about a bite of killer pizza. Even the creative device itself, the explosion of a blown mind, is telling an ingredient story. And the reactions aren’t the normal bite-and-smile. These people are happily freaked out by what they’re tasting.”

Made began working with California Pizza Kitchen in April of 2018. In addition to serving as the creative lead on the new “Mind Blown” campaign they have played a major role in defining CPK’s marketing strategy and positioning.

The ads are composed of brief vignettes in which people experience the delicious taste of CPK Cauliflower Crust Pizza, resulting in a stalk of cauliflower that animates to explode in visually immersive fashion just above their heads. The videos were shot at an extremely high frame so things could be slowed down to complement the animation of the cauliflower, which was added in post. The work breaks on September 30 in out-of-home, radio, digital and social media and runs exclusively in the Los Angeles area through the end of the year.

“We believe everything is better when you add a little California, and our Cauliflower Pizza Crust is a great example,” says Scott Hargrove, Global CMO of California Pizza Kitchen. “It combines the best of what CPK’s known for—a creative California spin on conventional pizza, a better-for-you factor, and of course, the amazingly fresh produce of our home state. Cauliflower Crust has been a success for us since we introduced it nationwide in January 2018 and continues to perform. With this campaign, we wanted to shine a light on a product our guests love, with work that looks very different from what you’d typically find in the category.”