Brief:

• Nestlé frozen pizza brand DiGiorno is breaking with its long-running "It's not delivery" tagline this month by delivering ready-to-bake pizzas in five cities, according to an announcement. The company already selected three cities for delivery, and is asking Twitter users to vote for the remaining two by posting tweets with their city name and the hashtag #DeliverDiGiorno.​
• DiGiorno will make a limited number of deliveries to pizza fans in one city each week during October to celebrate National Pizza Month. The pizza brand will feature a new tagline and logo on Twitter as part of the promotion.
• "This idea actually came from our fans on social media," Megan Smargiasso, DiGiorno's brand manager, said in a statement. "They're always sending us the many ironic ways we already deliver pizza like Instacart, Shipt or our retail delivery trucks."

Insight:

DiGiorno's delivery promotion aims to leverage the publicity for National Pizza Month while urging hardcore fans on social media to participate in a crowdsourced contest that rewards a few lucky customers with free pizza.

The campaign offers a playful twist on the brand's slogan, "It's not Delivery. It's DiGiorno," that emphasizes how customers can buy restaurant-quality pizza at grocery stores — although they also can get it delivered from Instacart, Amazon Fresh, goPuff and 7Now.

The marketing stunt demonstrates how brands can glean inspiration from the suggestions of their social media followers when crafting fresh campaigns. Burger chain Wendy's tried a similar approach last summer with a free giveaway of 2 million spicy chicken nuggets to DoorDash users after a Twitter campaign went viral. Wendy's pledged to bring back the menu item if Twitter users responded to its challenge with 2 million "likes" — a target that was easily surpassed.

Hashtag challenges like DiGiorno's have become a key strategy in viral marketing efforts on social media. Busch, JetBlue, Saucony and Skittles this year have run similar contests that encourage fan participation.

Meanwhile, social video app TikTok similarly markets viral hashtag challenges as a means for advertisers to reach its massive, generally young user base. The ByteDance-owned has recently worked with brands, including Walmart, Chipotle, Uniqlo and Ralph Lauren, on campaigns.