LONDON — PizzaExpress has selected PrettyGreen as its new retained PR agency, following a four-way competitive pitch.

The PR, social, influencer marketing and experiential agency replaces Freuds, which started working with the restaurant chain last April. Before that, PizzaExpress – which has 360 restaurants across the UK – worked with The Academy for a year.

PrettyGreen has already delivered its first campaign for National Pizza Day, which referenced the iconic PizzaExpress uniform and asked customers to ‘earn their stripes’ by turning up to a restaurant wearing a striped top in return for a free pizza. The campaign resulted in PizzaExpress being the most talked-about pizza brand in earned and social media in the UK on that day.

PizzaExpress marketing director Jo Vaughton said: "We were looking for a partner to help us build smart, culturally relevant, creative moments that celebrate our rich brand and the unwavering love the nation has for our iconic pizzas. Having already delivered our first campaign together, we are confident that the team have the magic formula for us and are excited about what’s in the pipeline for 2024.”

PrettyGreen managing director Sarah Henderson added: “We couldn’t be happier to partner with the team at PizzaExpress. The brand has such iconic DNA and we can’t wait to bring this to life in the world of PR. We had an instant chemistry with the client team and know we’ll do great stuff together.”