CT Pizza for the Win

The New Yorker has always been famous for its cartoons. And one classic, that I sadly can’t find online, was a depiction of a New York City sidewalk with a series of sign boards proclaiming that their restaurants had the best pizza in the city, the State, the Region…and that last one saying simply “Best Pizza on the Block.”

Which is kinda what Connecticut did a few months ago by proclaiming their State was the Pizza Capital of the U.S. Yeah, directly in the shadow of New York City, which believes itself to be the home of the best American pizza (Chicago and Detroit, of course, disagree). But New Haven?

And, the campaign worked magnificently. Online searches for New Haven jumped 39%. According to the Office of Statewide Marketing & Tourism, Connecticut saw a 50% increase in pizza-related searches on CTvisit.com and a 22% surge in day trips from New York City to New Haven during the June phase featuring billboards and rage-bait social media.

As the CMO of Connecticut Tourism said, “Our goal was never just to market pizza, it was to ignite a movement. We took something humble and universal, pizza, and turned it into an invitation to see Connecticut differently.”

Love it!