Surreal Campaign for Totino’s Twist Is a Back-To-School Snack Attack

Couch culture is getting weird, courtesy of Totino’s AREA 425 - a belly-rumbling wormhole existing in the space between getting home from school and dinner being ready (425 is also the temperature for cooking Totino’s Pizza Rolls to perfection). 

The OLV spots embody two years of shifting the brand strategy and focus to teens, the OG pizza-eating machines: 

• One in five teens will eat pizza on any given day (the Washington Post reported people consumer 100+ acres worth of pizza in a single day - back in 2015!). Teens currently sit higher in the brand’s consumption index (240 versus gen pop of 120). 
• Nine billion pizza rolls are consumed each year (with one in four households eating Totino’s). 

The spots were directed by Emma Debany, “who has an incredible grasp of the surreal and the absurd - and we needed that to achieve our genre-fluid ambitions,” shares Dentsu Creative CD Alyssa Ollis. “Emma’s short films like ‘Steve’s Kinkos’ and ‘Couch’ take simple situations and twist them up into mind-bending moments that stick with you.” 

“AREA 425 time’s become sacred for these teens,” shares Dentsu Creative account director Kelsey Ann Bassel. “Couch time means they get to be on-screens having ‘me time’ whether that is TV, on TikTok or playing video games. We want to meet teens in their moment - and influence them to start asking mom for Totino’s as their go-to snack.” 

“Back-to-school is a critical time when parents are re-establishing routines and grocery lists for the new school year,” adds Taylor Roseberry, Totino’s brand experience manager. “We know teens have heavy influence over the snacks their parents buy and Totino’s pizza rolls are filling, easy for teen’s to prep on their own and are customisable to dip with favourite sauces.” 

"We want to reward viewers for watching by continuing to ramp up the visual interest as they watch - so the longer they stay with the content the more entertaining the experience will be," adds Dentsu Creative CD Bo Jacobson.