Real Dough Pizza Co.
Brand strategy, identity system, naming, packaging design, photography, and launch marketing for Wisconsin's first frozen pizza built on a true 24-hour fermented sourdough crust.
Role Executive Creative Director & Brand Strategist
Client Real Dough Pizza Co.
Timeline Brand build from scratch, launched February 2025
The Challenge
Three Milwaukee restaurant owners had a genuinely great product, a frozen pizza built on real sourdough, fermented for 24 hours, made with the kind of care that doesn't exist anywhere else in the frozen aisle. The challenge was making sure the brand lived up to it.
The frozen pizza category is a sea of sameness: predictable packaging, forgettable names, the same visual language recycled across dozens of brands. Real Dough needed to look, sound, and feel like nothing else on the shelf while still communicating the craft and quality at the heart of the product. And it needed to do all of that from a standing start, with no brand equity to build on.
Brand Strategy
As Executive Creative Director and Brand Strategist, I partnered closely with the founders to shape the strategic foundation the entire brand would be built on.
The positioning centered on a simple truth: this is pizza made the real way, by people who actually care. But rather than letting the brand take itself too seriously — which craft food brands often do — I pushed the strategy toward something with more personality. The creative territory I established blended genuine craft credentials with 90s nostalgia, humor, and pop culture references. The result was a brand that felt both authentic and playful, one that earns trust through its ingredients and earns affection through its attitude.
Identity System
With the strategic territory established, I developed the full brand identity: logo, secondary mark, color system, and the visual language that would carry the brand across every touchpoint.
The visual strategy centered on bold, high-energy design built for shelf impact. Each of the five launch SKUs was assigned its own distinct, vibrant color creating immediate visual differentiation between flavors while keeping the lineup cohesive and expandable as the brand grows.
The product naming system was one of the most important creative decisions of the project. Working with the founders, I developed a naming convention rooted in humor, wordplay, and 90s pop culture, names that reward a second look and stick in your head long after you've put the box in your cart:
Curd Your Enthusiasm
Peppin' Ain't Easy
The Wisco Kid
Lost in the Sausage
Okie Dokie Artichokie
Each name pulls double duty, communicating the flavor while building the brand's personality. Together they signal: this is not your average frozen pizza.
Packaging Design
The packaging was designed to feel like nothing else in the frozen aisle. Bold, graphic, and unapologetically vibrant with subtle visual nods to the sourdough fermentation process and the handcrafted quality behind every crust. The goal was a package that stopped someone mid-stride, made them smile, and communicated premium craft without ever feeling precious about it.
Photography + Content
To support the launch across packaging, digital, and marketing, I led a two-day on-site product photography shoot, directing all hero and supporting imagery to emphasize the sourdough texture, fresh ingredients, and craveability of the pizzas. Every image was built for consistency across every brand touchpoint, from the box itself to social and retail marketing materials.
Launch + Marketing
To take the brand to market, I led the development of a full suite of launch materials: a brand storytelling video, social media content and visual assets, website imagery, and sales materials designed specifically to support conversations with grocery buyers and position the product for retail placement.
Impact
Real Dough Pizza Co. launched in February 2025 into four Wisconsin retailers — Sendik's, Festival Foods, Piggly Wiggly, and Woodman's — with five SKUs on shelf and a brand built to earn its place there.
Within the first month, buyer response was overwhelmingly positive and return customers appeared almost immediately, a strong early signal for a frozen product in a competitive category. A national retail rollout is planned for later in 2025.
What launched in February was the result of strategy, creative direction, and a close partnership with founders who had the product conviction to match the ambition.