Dive Brief:

• General Mills brand Totino’s Pizza Rolls has teamed with comedian Pete Davidson for a new campaign promoting the perks of the bite-sized pizza snacks over traditional pies for game-day watch parties, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• Timed ahead of the Super Bowl, the campaign includes two ad spots featuring Davidson, who praises Totino’s for giving him the ability to skip the inconveniences of pizza delivery. Dentsu Creative worked on the campaign.
• Rounding out the effort is a tie-up with hot sauce brand Tapatio for a pre-show integration surrounding the Spanish broadcast of the Super Bowl on Univision and Totino’s first Spanish-language ad spot.

Dive Insight:

Totino’s Pizza Rolls is pitching itself as the superior pizza option over what it describes as traditional “flat” pizza, which is the typical choice for Super Bowl celebrations. During last year’s game, an estimated 12.5 million pizzas were sold, per data cited in release details. The brand’s latest effort, which will air during the playoffs, could help it become front-of-mind for consumers as they begin planning their big game watch parties.

At the center of the campaign are two video spots with Davidson, who humorously touts why Totino’s is the ideal pizza choice. “Pete’s Pregame” sees Davidson peering through a window at a neighbor struggling to carry multiple pizza boxes inside, leading the comedian to question when the neighbor will learn to “eat like a grown up” with Totino’s. A second spot, “Pete’s Za Party,” showcases the star’s wild game-day set-up, which includes a pizza roll conveyor belt built into his coffee table. Davidson has become something of a regular in marketing campaigns, having been featured in ads for brands including Taco Bell, Manscaped and Smartwater.

Along with the ads, Totino’s is making a bid to a wider audience with a pre-show integration in partnership with hot sauce brand Tapatio around the Spanish broadcast of the Super Bowl on Univision. This is the first year the Spanish broadcast will be on the channel instead of ESPN Deportes. During the broadcast, the brand will release its first Spanish-language spot, “Hang Time,” which features a pizza delivery driver who makes a stop that turns into a hangout centered around pizza rolls. Others have also recently made Hispanic audiences a priority, including TurboTax, McDonald’s and Lexus.

A slew of other marketers have recently sought to get in on the hype for this year’s football season. Last week, Procter & Gamble brand Bounty Paper Towels kicked off a social-focused effort centered around NFL greats and the ability of the paper towel brand to handle the mess from popular game-day foods. In December, Bud Light teamed with football legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith as part of a marketing effort that launched the brand’s largest-ever Super Bowl ticket giveaway.

Marketers have been equally bullish about advertising during this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, with CBS having nearly sold out of all its Super Bowl advertising inventory by the start of November. Those who have already announced their plans include Mtn Dew, Oreo, BetMGM and Molson Coors, among a handful of others, with the average 30-second ad reportedly going for as much as $7 million.