Cici's Pizza : Yo Roto!

With viral videos appealing to both the sporty types and the hipster contingent, Deutsch LA's campaign for Cici's Pizza features a talented dancer/spinner/actor named Roto. As part of its marketing effort, the website for Roto includes the heavily-trafficked viral spots and even an advergame dubbed 'Sign Spinna.' "Conceptually, theres a uniqueness to this," says Deutsch creative director Josh Rose. "This one literally is part-real and part-fiction. Weve got feet firmly planted on both sides of the line. He literally is a sign-spinner, hes gone to school for it, he puts his time on the side of the road and hes driven traffic. But at the same time, hes also a character, weve used CG and enhanced it. Part of it is this real campaign, and theres this branding side to it. We created this like an ad campaign." The 'Sign Spinna' game gives users the chance to play DJ via a handful of tunes from bands like Now On, Billybones and Giant Panda. Using the A, S, D and F keys, participants can keep the beat and provoke Roto to bust a move, adding yet another element to this evolving word-of-mouth effort. "Usually, you talk about viral videos and theres this post and pray mentality where you throw it up and hope a bunch of people will come," says Rose. "We really wanted to take a different approach and think of this as an ad campaignwithout TV or print. It involved so many different things, event marketing, viral videos and Roto showing up at some events. He continues, "From a site standpoint, it had to follow the campaign and it moved with every phase. He could post blogs or video of himself and tout his own expertise, and give cred to sign-spinning as a pretty cool activity. As the campaign developed, we added more outrageousness to the effects and videos, and the site evolved into a much richer experience."

Cici's Pizza : Yo Roto!

Featured Stories