Casa Virgin
Launch Studio
D2C
A cinematic launch video that turned olio piccante vs. hot honey into a cultural line in the sand.
A cinematic launch video that turned olio piccante vs. hot honey into a cultural line in the sand.
Services
Brand Strategy, Creative Direction, Video Production, Launch Positioning
Timeline
4 weeks
The Challenge
The Challenge
Olive oil is a crowded category. But for Casa Virgin, the first battleground wasn’t the grocery shelf — it was pizza joints across NYC.
The founders grew up in Italy, where olio piccante sat on every table and was used to add heat and flavor to just about everything. Pizza included.
Back in America, they found something disturbing. Over the past several years, a sticky, gooey substance known as hot honey had exploded in popularity, becoming a staple in pizza shops across the city — and eventually, the country.
For Casa Virgin, that presented both a problem and an opportunity.
With limited resources, we couldn’t win by politely introducing another option. Competing on quality claims or versatility would disappear into the noise.
Olive oil is a crowded category. But for Casa Virgin, the first battleground wasn’t the grocery shelf — it was pizza joints across NYC.
The founders grew up in Italy, where olio piccante sat on every table and was used to add heat and flavor to just about everything. Pizza included.
Back in America, they found something disturbing. Over the past several years, a sticky, gooey substance known as hot honey had exploded in popularity, becoming a staple in pizza shops across the city — and eventually, the country.
For Casa Virgin, that presented both a problem and an opportunity.
With limited resources, we couldn’t win by politely introducing another option. Competing on quality claims or versatility would disappear into the noise.
The Solution
The Solution
The Solution
We launched The War on Hot Honey.
Instead of competing politely in a crowded category, we asked consumers to make a choice about what they want to represent. Reframing olio piccante not as another option, but as the correct one.
To ensure we captured attention in-feeds, we led with cinema.
We recreated the iconic opening scene of Goodfellas, reimagined entirely for Casa Virgin. The reference wasn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake — it was a shortcut to cultural weight. The pacing, tone, and confidence signaled tradition, seriousness, and Italian credibility before the product ever appeared.
Pizza was the wedge.
Hot honey had become trendy in New York pizza shops. Casa Virgin countered with a simple, confrontational idea: real Italians would never put honey on pizza. Olio piccante wasn’t a trend — it was how pizza was supposed to be eaten.
The campaign was built as a system:
A two-part, cinematic hero video (60 seconds each)
Five unique cutdowns designed for social distribution
Campaign stills to carry the narrative across platforms
A dedicated landing page inspired by a change.org petition asking people to join the fight, designed to capture emails.
Rather than asking people to try Casa Virgin, the campaign asked a more uncomfortable question:
What kind of person puts honey on pizza?
Casa Virgin didn’t try to win everyone. We used culture, confidence, and confrontation to make the brand instantly legible — and impossible to ignore.
We launched The War on Hot Honey.
Instead of competing politely in a crowded category, we asked consumers to make a choice about what they want to represent. Reframing olio piccante not as another option, but as the correct one.
To ensure we captured attention in-feeds, we led with cinema.
We recreated the iconic opening scene of Goodfellas, reimagined entirely for Casa Virgin. The reference wasn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake — it was a shortcut to cultural weight. The pacing, tone, and confidence signaled tradition, seriousness, and Italian credibility before the product ever appeared.
Pizza was the wedge.
Hot honey had become trendy in New York pizza shops. Casa Virgin countered with a simple, confrontational idea: real Italians would never put honey on pizza. Olio piccante wasn’t a trend — it was how pizza was supposed to be eaten.
The campaign was built as a system:
A two-part, cinematic hero video (60 seconds each)
Five unique cutdowns designed for social distribution
Campaign stills to carry the narrative across platforms
A dedicated landing page inspired by a change.org petition asking people to join the fight, designed to capture emails.
Rather than asking people to try Casa Virgin, the campaign asked a more uncomfortable question:
What kind of person puts honey on pizza?
Casa Virgin didn’t try to win everyone. We used culture, confidence, and confrontation to make the brand instantly legible — and impossible to ignore.
The Results
The Results
The Results
Despite having less than 1,000 followers across social channels, the video racked up over 100,000 organic views across platforms. Fast forward 6 months, and Casa Virgin is sold in 100+ stores across the country and is featured prominently in pizzerias around Brooklyn.
Despite having less than 1,000 followers across social channels, the video racked up over 100,000 organic views across platforms. Fast forward 6 months, and Casa Virgin is sold in 100+ stores across the country and is featured prominently in pizzerias around Brooklyn.
Luca Alessandrini
Founder & CEO of Casa Virgin
Trash didn’t try to make us look like every other food startup. They understood that Casa Virgin needed a point of view — not a pitch. The War on Hot Honey captured something Italians feel instinctively, and the Goodfellas-style launch gave us instant cultural credibility.
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Luca Alessandrini
Founder & CEO of Casa Virgin
