Image Courtesy of Matt Reyes, Iris
California Pizza Kitchen Launches New Campaign With Busy Philipps as Popular Pizza Chain Turns 40
March 27, 2025
California Pizza Kitchen is going through a mid-life crisis, and it’s taking actress Busy Philipps along for the ride.
The actress, who currently hosts “Busy This Week” on QVC, has been tapped as the spokeswoman for the popular pizza chain, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Earlier this week, CPK pretended to have a mid-life crisis before turning 40, launching “new branding” across all digital channels. To stay current with today’s consumers, the fictitious brand was accompanied by absurd movies, visuals, and photos, leaving everyone wondering what was happening. Today, thanks to Philipps, a fantastic collaborator and brand enthusiast, CPK presented the real story: “We’re 40 & Fine with It!”
“I’ve been a huge fan of CPK ever since I worked there as a hostess back in the day, so of course I was thrilled to help them celebrate this incredible anniversary,” said Philipps in a press release. “My job was to remind CPK that at 40 years old, there’s no need for reinvention. Their legacy and continued leadership of creating incredible flavors and lasting memories is exactly what will keep people of all ages loving the brand for many years to come.”
In an exclusive interview with RetailWire, California Pizza Kitchen CMO Dawn Keller talked about the process of choosing Philipps as the spokeswoman, the new menu, and other things fans can expect from the pizza chain in the coming months.
Why was Busy Philipps the perfect partner for this 40th anniversary campaign, and how did her personal connection as a former California Pizza Kitchen hostess shape the creative direction?
Busy has always floated around CPK as a potential brand partner as we knew her history with the brand and her genuine love for it, but we had never worked with her before. This moment was the perfect opportunity to bring her into the fold — not only was there the personal connection as she worked at CPK years ago and is an authentic, massive brand fan, she also has that humorous sarcasm and relatability that we needed for this campaign. No one wants to turn 40, especially a stereotypical Californian, but Busy has done it — realistically, yet gracefully — and made for the perfect person to bring in as the hero to save CPK from its pseudo mid-life crisis.
The fake “mid-life crisis” rebrand was a fun risk — what inspired that concept, and how did customers react to the temporary streetwear-style makeover?
It’s very clear that California Pizza Kitchen still has a lot of brand equity, but we just aren’t top of mind for people. Our goal here was to rejuvenate the brand by doubling down on what people love about us — what makes us unique and deliciously different — and to do it in a way that would get people to think and talk about us again.
Our 40th anniversary gave us the opportunity to use this milestone to fuel this objective, but we also knew we shouldn’t approach it in a traditional way. We wanted to tell the story of the brand in a creative and relatable way, as well as show up with personality and a sense of cultural relevance.
This is how we landed on our magical moment of the fake “rebrand” and “mid-life crisis” as we turn 40 because to deny it would be the relatable and “California” way. Then, having Busy Philipps step in to save us from ourselves and remind us what makes California Pizza Kitchen so great was the perfect happy ending to get us back to the core ideas and pillars of the brand.
We loved watching everyone’s reactions and it played out exactly as we expected — across all our socials, many people were very confused, others were completely trashing the “rebrand” and then some actually were cheering it on! It was a spectrum of negativity and total confusion, but our goal was to spark conversation and that’s exactly what happened.
How did you select which legacy menu items made the anniversary comeback, and were there any surprises in what guests, team members, or founders voted for?
We’re always listening to our guests, and whether that’s through social media or in restaurants, we constantly hear them asking for the return of classic fan-favorites. For our 40th anniversary, we not only listened to what our guests wanted to see return, but also involved our team — Executive Chef Paul Pszybylski and CPK’s founders, Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax — who selected their own retired favorites. It’s all about celebrating those dishes that have meant the most to our guests over the years and bringing some extra fun to this milestone!
Can you share more about the decision to upgrade the Thank You Card promotion? What made this the right moment to bring it back with even bigger prizes?
After about a six-year hiatus, the Thank You Card promotion has run for the past two years and has always been a favorite among our guests. We knew we had to do it again for a third year, and our 40th anniversary was the perfect moment to make it even more elevated and unique. We’ve added great prizes like gift cards and cash prizes up to $40,000, as well as a digital component that offers guests an extra way to win an additional grand prize.
How does the anniversary campaign balance nostalgia for longtime fans while still appealing to a younger, TikTok-savvy audience discovering California Pizza Kitchen for the first time?
Our celebration embraces both the nostalgia of what made CPK special and the excitement of what lies ahead. We’re honoring the classics that built our brand with the return of four fan-favorite menu items that we think will excite longtime brand fans, while still appealing to a younger consumer. Additionally, the “40 & Fine with It” campaign highlights CPK’s rich heritage, while also capturing the spirit of today with streetwear-inspired fashion and a fun twist on rebranding in a way that a younger consumer is going to understand. It has a personality and sense of cultural relevance that is meant to engage younger consumers and have them follow along, while reminding brand fans why they love CPK.
California Pizza Kitchen has always been known for innovation — how do you see that legacy evolving over the next 40 years, especially with trends like plant-based and globally inspired flavors?
Innovation has always been at the core of CPK, from introducing the BBQ Chicken Pizza to constantly reinventing casual dining. Looking ahead, we’ll continue to listen to our guests to understand their flavor wants and needs, the dining and menu trends they’re loving, and more in order to evolve with them. The future of California Pizza Kitchen is about staying fresh, relevant, and delivering the creativity that has always kept people coming back.
How does California Pizza Kitchen measure success with a campaign like this? Are you focusing on social engagement, traffic, loyalty sign-ups, or something else?
Our goal with the “40 & Fine with It” campaign was to do something that would gain attention and social media traction, while also driving people into restaurants and keeping CPK top of mind again, which is also supported by our returning fan-favorite menu items and Thank You Card promotion. We are looking at all of it — social engagement, traffic, loyalty sign-ups, etc.
The mockumentary video was a fresh storytelling approach — what role does video content and humor play in your broader marketing strategy moving forward?
We’ve always taken bold, creative risks and will continue to do so. The “40 & Fine with It” mockumentary video was just the right mix of attention-grabbing humor and staying true to California Pizza Kitchen’s DNA of fresh innovation and lightheartedness. The campaign’s success reinforces the power of storytelling through authentic, engaging, and humorous content to create memorable connections with loyal guests and new audiences. We’ll use similar strategies moving forward where it feels authentic and applicable.
With so many restaurant brands leaning into limited-time offers and nostalgia lately, how did you ensure CPK’s 40th celebration felt uniquely authentic to the brand?
Our 40th celebration is about celebrating CPK’s rich brand heritage, what makes us special, and where the brand is heading. We knew no matter what we did to celebrate, it had to be uniquely CPK and celebrate everything that our loyal guests love about the brand while also giving back to them.
The “40 & Fine with It” campaign played up CPK’s boldness, fresh innovation, and lightheartedness that brand fans know and love. While they’re nostalgic, limited-time offerings, the return of our fan-favorite dishes were picked by those very close to California Pizza Kitchen — our guests and team members, making this a very fun and meaningful experience. This, and the Thank You Card promotion, in particular, engaged our guests directly, making them part of the celebration, which is uniquely California Pizza Kitchen.
The Thank You Card sweepstakes adds a digital component this year — how is California Pizza Kitchen thinking about integrating more digital and loyalty-driven experiences into future campaigns?
We’re always thinking about how to bring more people into our marketable ecosystem, and knew the Thank You Card promotion was a great way to do this. It was important to us to take a small step here, so adding the QR code to the cards that allows guests to voluntarily register their card and join CPK Rewards to earn an instant $5 bonus and enter for a chance to win a five-day cruise getaway was a great test to see how we can use certain experiences/campaigns to bridge into our digital ecosystem.
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