Pizzikotto is an Italian pizza chain with numerous locations throughout the country.
The brand stands out for its high-quality food offerings, a warm and well-appointed atmosphere, and a focus on families, couples, and food lovers seeking an authentic and genuine experience.
The brand’s most distinctive feature is the ability—unique in the commercial restaurant industry—to choose the thickness of your pizza crust: thick, thin, or medium.
A distinctive element that is reflected in the campaign’s key message—“The restaurant where you choose how your pizza is made”—and that becomes the narrative centerpiece of all influencer communications.
Pizzikotto has always favored Italian suppliers—almost all of whom are organic—supporting small and medium-sized local farms and using certified ingredients that have been carefully selected over the years.
The menu features a variety of pizzas, artisanal desserts, options for specific dietary needs (lactose-free mozzarella, vegan cream sauce), a lunch menu available Monday through Friday, and a kids’ menu that comes with a small gift.
The campaign involves three retail locations: Bologna, Verona, and Lecco, with the goal of generating targeted local visibility and in-store traffic in each of the three geographic areas.
Pizzikotto faced a twofold challenge, one shared by many high-quality restaurant brands operating in a competitive market:
In a context where the authenticity of the story and the local connection of the voice are key factors in choosing a restaurant, it was necessary to engage creators capable of speaking with credibility and relevance to local communities, creating content that not only informed but also inspired a visit.
The objectives defined together with Factory Communication were on three main levels:
The KPIs defined for measurement included: Coverage and Watch Time (brand awareness), Saves (interest and purchase intent), and % of Viewers by Age (alignment with the target audience).
Factory Communication designed a multi-location influencer marketing campaign, engaging local creators specializing in specific niches in each of the three target geographic areas, with the goal of fostering authentic connections between the brand, the local community, and the local food-loving audience.
The pillars of the strategy:
The primary target audience defined for the campaign consisted of:
The story was built around a single, comprehensive video asset—the Reel—developed using an experiential approach:
The results of the influencer marketing efforts for the Pizzikotto campaign show strong performance in terms of both visibility and engagement with the target audience, with significant figures across all three markets involved.
The project involved 5 creators for a total of 5 posts, spread across the cities of Bologna, Verona, and Lecco.
The extensive overall reach achieved with just five micro-influencer campaigns represents a significant accomplishment, resulting from the synergy between the creators’ local focus and the strength of the creative concept centered on pizza-making.
The data on saves is particularly significant: it is an indicator of high interest and potential impact on future visits, typical of content designed to drive in-store traffic.
The total Watch Time indicates a high level of active engagement with the published Reels.
The audience reached perfectly matches the target audience defined at the outset:
The analysis shows a strong ability to deliver the message to the target audience, both geographically and sociodemographically, with a predominance of young adults. Interactions are primarily focused on expressions of appreciation (likes) and active interest (comments), highlighting an engaged audience that is inclined to save the content, with the potential for a tangible impact on future visits to the restaurant.
The tone of the comments is overwhelmingly positive: the menu, the way the dough is prepared, and the atmosphere stand out as distinctive features and strengths recognized by the public. Among the most notable comments are: “It’s great to be able to choose the crust,” “The atmosphere is meticulously crafted, and you can immediately sense the quality. “The idea of being able to choose the thickness of the pizza is wonderful… perfect for every taste!” and “This chain is also in my town, Trento, and the thin-crust pizza is my favorite.”
Of particular note is the viral reach component: the content also reached a significant number of non-followers, with an average of 59.1% and peaks of up to 71%, confirming the platform’s ability to expand beyond its established user base. The percentage of non-followers reached is a key indicator of growth in visibility among a new and potentially interested audience, selected by the algorithm through peer-to-peer shares or placement in the Explore section—both mechanisms based on interest and thematic affinity.
Finally, the audience is concentrated in the 25- to 44-year-old and 45- to 65-year-old age groups. These characteristics reflect the profile of the target audience that is most receptive and knowledgeable about the topics covered.
The influencer marketing campaign for Pizzikotto in Bologna, Verona, and Lecco shows that:
This case study demonstrates how the collaboration between Pizzikotto and Factory Communication serves as a replicable model for the brand’s other locations and, more broadly, for restaurants seeking to use influencer marketing as a concrete tool for local engagement—one capable of combining visibility, narrative authenticity, and measurable results.
