Crosta Mollica is progressing into 2025 with a bang, introducing a full brand refresh.
As one of the UK’s fastest growing pizza brands, the new brand rollout begins with its sourdough pizza range this month, both across chilled and frozen. The fresh look and feel reinforces Crosta Mollica’s authentic Italian credentials and drives home messaging of the superior quality of ingredients used, while introducing a new audience of food lovers to the brand through discovery and enhanced recognition.
David Milner, Executive Chairman at Crosta Mollica, said: “Crosta Mollica is an exceptional brand. We are the only pizza made in Italy (on UK shelves) – halfway between Venice and the Dolomites – with high quality ingredients sourced from local producers and craftspeople. The pizzas – as well as all our other products – taste fantastic and we want more people to discover what we are about.”
Pizza Italiana moderna
Crosta Mollica’s full production process takes place in Italy, using premium and locally sourced ingredienti eccezionali before the pizzas are imported to the UK for sale. Every pack has been updated to showcase the pizza within and emphasise the freshness of the ingredients used, delivered through mouth-watering on-pack imagery, all to draw consumers in. In addition, this is the first time there will be variation in pack design from chilled to frozen, reflecting the difference in shopping environment.
Updated language will emphasise the Italian heritage and be positioned front and centre. Pizza names and ingredients will be showcased in Italian – from the classic Margherita, to the Fromaggi and Capricciosa, drawing back to Crosta Mollica being a brand for the culinary cognoscente (connoisseur).
Incorporating key phrases, words and ingredients into the packaging allows Crosta Mollica to tell the brand story alongside highlighting the artisan producers the team source from and work with
‘The one with the stripes’
A key change consumers will notice is the name and logo. Removing the ampersand from both, the brand has evolved to simply: Crosta Mollica. Crosta Mollica literally translates to ‘crust’ and ‘crumb’. Easier for pizza eaters to pronounce and recall but still quintessentially Italian.
Crosta Mollica’s iconic stipes and bold colour palette is what the brand has historically been most recognised on-shelf for – bold, stylish and distinctive. This style has been updated to amplify the new look-and-feel. Sophisticated and designed to turn heads, they are more prominent, with each product having its own chic and stylish unique colourway. Alongside delivering shelf standout the stripes play a key role in linking back to the wider modern Italian culture of fashion, style and luxury.
Non Per Tutti
Crosta Mollica’s truly authentic Italian heritage is celebrated in a new brand positioning of ‘Non Per Tutti’. Written proudly on the back of each pack, it’s a confident Italian phrase that means ‘not for everyone’. If you like pineapple on your pizza, Crosta Mollica isn’t the brand for you. Stuffed crust? Not here.
The ‘Non Per Tutti’ strategy and tagline further emphasises that its products are made for those with great taste and who can appreciate the craftmanship, quality and commitment to authenticity which go into every bite.
Il Leopardo
The new logo – Il Leopardo – is an embodiment of ‘crust and crumb’. Crosta Mollica pizzas are made with the authentic Italian spirit and craft, investing time and quality into the production of every pizza, including 24-hour slow proved dough, wood-fired on a lava stone, and using water from the Dolomites. This culminates to a golden crust with black, spotted scorch marks – a process known as ‘leopardisation’.
Milner said: “The team have done a brilliant job of building the business to where it is today both in the UK and internationally, and now we are on the cusp of an exciting opportunity. One of the primary objectives of undergoing such a momentous brand refresh is to make the name more memorable – we want to be more than ‘the one with the stripes’.”
He added: “Those who already enjoy Crosta Mollica pizzas never look back, so it’s about us saying to shoppers ‘This is us’. We are focused and committed to maintaining everything which is so incredibly good about the brand – our Italian heritage, the quality, the taste, the heart and passion – and using our packaging to really shout about it. This is the start of a new era for Crosta Mollica and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
A very Italian marketing plan
The brand refresh will be supported by key activations with retailers, both in-store and online, to disrupt shoppers. Activity will include floor-to-ceiling in-aisle shopper engagement and branding across both the chilled and frozen aisles to drive awareness and communicate key messaging around the refresh. Online, sponsored searches and branded banners will also highlight Crosta Mollica as the first choice in retail pizza. All activity will emphasise the quality and taste of Crosta Mollica products, create shelf-appeal and brand recognition, and ensure the brand is front of shopper’s minds.
