Get the story behind the viral Pittsburgh Pizza Ads
The Pizza Pronto ads are unusual, but people can't stop gawking at them.
If you’re deep into Pittsburgh Twitter or prowl the Pittsburgh Subreddit, there’s a good chance you’ve seen an unusual pizza ad depicting anthromophric cats running a pizza parlor. In the ad, there’s a rabbit with insanely tight jeans spinning the dough in the air with perfection. Even a passerby stops their phone call to gawk at her handy work through the window. At the counter, a cat is receiving a pepperoni pizza to dine on with their friend.
This ad breaks about every single rule of advertising. There’s no call to action. It’s not even clear what this ad is for. Rabbit? The famous Jack Rabbit roller coaster? An animal shelter? The story its telling is unclear. What is jackrabbit speed and how does it apply to pizza?
Yet, it’s probably one of the most seen pizza ads in this region. Honestly, it’s the only pizza ad I can recall from memory.
I reached out to the owner / operator of Pizza Pronto, Matt Gocinski, to learn more about what he thinks he’s doing, his philosophy, and why invest so much money on a huge Dune mural that only him and his employees will see.
Dan Tallarico: You probably spend more time at Pizza Pronto than anywhere else. Do your employees get the same inspiration and lift from the art that you do?
Matt Gocinski: Pizza Pronto is open 100 hours a week so it was important to me that the stores decor made me feel at home. I put up track lighting in the main lobby and I filled with paintings that I enjoy looking at. I figured if I felt a sense of well being from the art that I am surrounded by so would my customers. However the paintings don't end at the front area where the customers can see them. They continue into the kitchen, down into the basement and all the way out of the back door into the alleyway where the Dune mural resides. After a stressful pizza rush being surrounded by art can have therapeutic effect on my employees state of mind.
I haven't struggled with employee retention problems as most places in the pizza industry have. I believe that creating a vibrant atmosphere differentiates Pizza Pronto from other places they have worked in the past. Since day one I have rewarded my employees loyalty with giving them systematic raises every six months. Another factor is I treat my employees fairly and with respect.
Dan: Tell me about the inspiration for the cat and rabbits ad? I personally love it.
I thought it would be cool to hire an artist to make me some eye catching Pizza Pronto related art that I could display in my storefront window. I hired a Pittsburgh artist who go's by the name Zeus. I had a couple concepts that Zeus turned into art. The first idea was a flying saucer that is using its tractor beam to suck Pizza Pronto pizza into its spaceship. Cats & Rabbits was the sixth out of the eight Pizza Pronto specific works of art Zeus created. Zeus is the one that pitched Cats & Rabbits to me. He told me he had been working on some anthropomorphic cats and rabbits characters that he thought would fun to incorporate into one of my displays. I loved the idea and gave him the green light. Zeus has full creative control after we fleshed out the basic premise of the piece.
In the February issue of the Clipper magazine I featured Cats & Rabbits on the front cover. The magazine was mailed to 58,000 households in Pittsburgh. I wanted people to do a double take when they pulled it out of there mailbox. My peers in the pizza industry talk about how print advertising is dead. My creative approach to print advertising has yielded positive results. I plan to continue to use creative advertising to help Pizza Pronto break through the yoke of the status quo pizza shop.
Dan: You initially went “viral” for your Dune mural. How did that happen?
Matt: In my first week at Pizza Pronto in May 2018 I commissioned a Dune themed mural from a Pittsburgh artist named Brian Gonnella. On October 24, 2021 unbeknownst to me a long time friend (@escargopro on Twitter) posted about the Dune Mural.
I think the Dune mural thread went "viral" on twitter because of the absurd nature of placement and my seemingly financially tone-deaf self sabotaging reasoning of why I wanted it. At that point in time I was in a staggering amount of debt. It had to feel like home to me because I knew I was going to have to commit all of my time to this pizza shop. The Dune mural is the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night as I am leaving to go home.
Dan: What so you want your impact to be on the Pittsburgh pizza scene?
Matt: I would like my impact on the Pittsburgh pizza scene to been seen through my advertising. I want to use advertising as a vehicle to attract new customers and to share my love of art.
Enjoy some more Pizza Pronto ads:
Pizza & Pandas
Matt says: Next to Pizza Pronto is a Chinese takeout restaurant. I have oversized Pizza & Pandas ad facing the New China Inn’s entrance. The ad is also aimed at passing by University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon students.
The Persistence of Pizza
Matt says: My take on Salvador Dali’s famous Persistence of Time painting mixed with a little 90’s Taco Bell Chihuahua lingo
Thanks for reading and we’ll pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist