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Domino’s is inserting itself into the high stakes challenges of Squid Game ahead of the Netflix hit show’s season 2 premiere, with ads showing pizza deliveries saving contestants from being eliminated.
The campaign, created by agency WorkInProgress, features two ads based on episodes from Squid Game season 1, while integrating Domino’s Emergency Pizza offer, a clever spin on a BOGO deal that the brand introduced in 2023.
A contestant in “Red Light, Green Light” stumbles, saving himself by ordering an “emergency pizza” with his phone. The meal is delivered via trap door, distracting the giant animatronic doll overseeing the contest and allowing him to stay in the game.
Meanwhile, “The Trade” shows a woman trying to carve an umbrella from a dalgona candy and cracking the honeycomb. She calls for an emergency pizza and uses it to bribe a guard, who gives her a perfect umbrella in exchange.
The spots will run on Netflix’s ad-supported plan.
Domino’s will also make an appearance at Squid Game: The Experience NYC on Dec. 12, where guards will offer the players with the lowest score in each contest a custom dalgona tin containing $500 worth of Domino’s gift cards.
“The fact that the stakes are so high in [Squid Game] was actually an opportunity to create really funny moments, where a free emergency pizza unexpectedly saves the day in these iconic life and death situations,” Matt Talbot, co-founder and chief creative officer of WorkInProgress, told ADWEEK.
This year’s Emergency Pizza activation kicked off in October with a branded Fortnite map and a partnership with nail brand Olive & June. The campaign has already garnered more than 3 billion media impressions.
The pizza chain previously teamed up with Netflix in 2022, leveraging the release of Stranger Things season 4 with TV spots and a co-branded app that allowed users to explore the fictional Hawkins National Lab from the show. Fans could test their psychic powers by using facial recognition technology to move objects and even order a pizza.
“After the successful partnership between Domino’s and Stranger Things in 2022, we had been looking for an opportunity to unite forces with Netflix once again,” Talbot said. “The second iteration of Emergency Pizza and second season of Squid Game was that perfect opportunity.”
