Crosta Mollica, one of the UK’s fastest-growing pizza brands, is beginning 2025 with a full brand refresh.
The new brand rollout will commence with the range of sourdough pizzas in February, both across its chilled and frozen ranges. The new look aims to reinforce Crosta Mollica’s Italian credentials and drive home messaging on the quality of its ingredients.
Crosta Mollica is the only pizza brand on shelves in the UK with its full production process in Italy, using locally sourced ingredienti eccezionali, before importing them 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 on-pack imagery. In addition, this is the first time there will be variation in pack design from chilled to frozen, reflecting the difference in the shopping environment.
Updated language will emphasise the Italian heritage and be positioned front and centre. Pizza names and ingredients will also be showcased in Italian. The brand noted that it was incorporating key phrases, words and ingredients into the packaging to tell the brand story alongside highlighting the artisan producers it sources from.
A key change consumers will notice is the name and logo. Removing the ampersand from both, the brand has evolved to simply Crosta Mollica, which translates to ‘crust’ and ‘crumb’.
Crosta Mollica’s stripes and bold colour palette is what the brand has historically been most recognised on-shelf for. The style has been updated to amplify the new look and feel.
David Milner, Executive Chairman at Crosta Mollica, commented: “Crosta Mollica is an exceptional brand. We are the only pizza which is made in Italy – 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.
“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’. 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.”
Dean Lavender, Marketing Director at Crosta Mollica, added: “2025 is going to be a big year for us. Every element of what we do has been reviewed, evaluated and updated to ensure what we put in front of shoppers truly reflects who we are today. We’re starting with the new branding across our hero pizza range, but that is just the beginning. Behind the scenes, the team is working on some very exciting brand activation plans to bring the new branding and positioning to life, including the sponsorship of Venezia FC Femminile, the women’s football team which will begin in February 2025. We have a lot of ambition and are proud to deliver pizza lovers with the best quality Italian pizza… and to do it in style.”
The brand refresh will be supported by activations with retailers, both in-store and online. 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”.
