Red Baron engages Gen Z with creative marketing campaigns

Fast, convenient, and affordable, frozen pizza is a staple in many American households. This go-to dinner option is especially popular among the youngest generation of adults – Gen Z.

But which pizza brand to choose? With many brand names filling the grocery store freezer aisle, Red Baron works hard to stand out with creative marketing campaigns.

Want to read more about emerging food and beverage industry trends? Check out our Food & Beverage: An Industry Snapshot report for insights and brand rankings. 

Marketing Campaigns that Appeal to Young Adults

Red Baron’s marketing often tackles themes, and appears on platforms, that appeal to Gen Zers. Take a look at some of Red Baron’s 2022/2023 marketing campaigns that engaged young adults:

• In October 2022, Red Baron released the brand motto “Share Something Awesome.” Red Baron sees pizza as a social meal that should bring people together. This message carries throughout Red Baron’s marketing campaigns.
• “Red Baron Hometown Throwdown Challenge”: Red Baron partnered with TikTok creators to ask what toppings consumers would add to their Red Baron pizza to reflect their hometown. The challenge was exclusively promoted on TikTok and Instagram, two platforms popular with Gen Z. 
• “The Showdown: Fully Loaded”: For the launch of thier Fully Loaded Hand Tossed Style Pizza, Red Baron released a movie trailer-style commercial that depicted an epic western brawl. The spot merged several popular movie genres into an action-packed reminder that eating pizza is more enjoyable than most things…even a mind-blowing fight sequence.
• “Red Baron Pizza Sharing”: When Netflix cracked down on password sharing earlier this year, Red Baron humorously played off the moment by encouraging viewers to share pizza, not passwords. During a limited time promotion, consumers were offered a free Red Baron pizza coupon to share with their friends and family. 

Red Baron Sees Brand Equity Growth

Using QuestBrand data, we can see how Gen Z’s estimation of the Red Baron brand (measured in brand equity) increases throughout 2022 and 2023.

Brand equity measures the value consumers see in a brand at a particular moment of time. It is an average of four components: brand familiarity, perceived quality, purchase consideration, and perceived momentum.

The graph below tracks Red Baron’s brand equity from the beginning of 2022 through the end of September 2023.

The black trend line shows data for the general population of US adults. Data from Gen Z adults (ages 18-26) is broken out and shown in red. The area shaded in green highlights the time period after Red Baron launched their “Share Something Awesome” brand motto, illustrating its potential impact on young consumers.

Red Baron Frozen Pizza Brand Equity – Trended 12 Week Moving Average

QuestBrand. 1/1/22-9/30/23. Base: General population of US adults (black), n=18,502. Base: Gen Z adults (red), n=2,625.

We can see that Red Baron’s brand equity significantly increased among Gen Z adults throughout 2022 and the first two-thirds of 2023. Over the same period, brand equity remained relatively stable among the general population of US adults. 

Red Baron’s substantial growth just among this young adult demographic signals that the brand’s marketing efforts are resonating with Gen Z, and paying off in how this consumer group views the pizza brand.

We see similar growth in Red Baron’s sales conversion funnel. The graph below compares Red Baron’s sales conversion funnel among Gen Z adults from the first half of 2022 to the first half of 2023. This reflects how greatly Gen Z’s consumption of the frozen pizza brand climbed in the span of a single year.

Red Baron Sales Conversion Funnel Among Gen Z Adults – January-June 2022 v 2023 

QuestBrand. Base: Gen Z adults. Pre: 1/1/22-6/30/22, n=746. Post: 1/1/23-6/30/23, n=760.

The five steps in any brand’s sales conversion funnel are brand awareness, brand familiarity, trial, usage, and finally recommendation. In the graph above, Gen Zers were significantly more likely to have reported familiarity (+7.6) with, and having tried (trial +8.0) Red Baron pizza in 2023 than they had in 2022.

Importantly, Gen Z consumers were also significantly more likely to recommend (+4.0) the product to others.

Red Baron’s marketing had a strong year, with engaging campaigns that captured the attention of this young generation of pizza enthusiasts. We can’t wait to see what campaigns Red Baron launches in 2024. You can bet we will tune in with a hot slice of pizza right from the oven.