Each year, pizza giants capitalize on National Pizza Day (Feb. 9), so how does a bagel brand break through the clutter to get consumers to try their superior pizza creation? Einstein Bros. Bagels offered guests the Family Pizza Bagel Box for just $5 from Feb. 9 to Feb. 14, though the deal alone wouldn’t move our ambitious goals of pushing in-app orders and social activity.

For Pizza Bagels from Einstein Bros. Bagels to shine through on National Pizza Day, Snackbox employed an aggressive media relations plan in tandem with a playful “Twitter Wars” strategy to increase awareness of the bagel brand’s Pizza Day deal. 

Twitter Strategy

On the morning of Pizza Day, Snackbox developed a direct response to Domino’s Pizza Day giveaway Tweet. Einstein Bros. Bagels upped the ante, offering not one but two free years of Pizza Bagels to one person who had the best reply to: “Tell us why our Pizza Bagels > regular pizza!” 

Einstein Bros. Bagels successfully increased awareness of their Pizza Bagels. Big wins in awareness included national brands like Bagel Bites, Little Caesars and Hidden Valley Ranch proactively engaging with the brand. The Twitter account saw a 1,921% increase in the average number of daily engagements and a 274,650% increase in the average number of daily post clicks on National Pizza Day.

Media Relations 

Through an aggressive earned media plan, National Pizza Day 2021 was the most successful PR campaign in Einstein Bros. Bagels history, with a total audience reach of 1.3 billion and coverage in 116 local markets across the country. Top national placements included Fox News, Yahoo! Entertainment, Thrillist, Good Housekeeping, Elite Daily, Delish, Retail Me Not and MSN.