Interview

‘An Award like This gives You a Boost’

Whether ‘Basilikomm’ zur Post’ or ‘Pizza in 20 minutes, fibre in seconds’: with KARTONizza, the pizza box becomes a high-impact advertising space. The creative offline marketing idea not only convinces consumers, but also the jury of the German Brand Awards 2025 – the startup was recognised in two categories at once. Founders Pia Steinberg and Patrick Knebelkamp explain what lies behind their successful brand work in an interview with PAGE. An excerpt:

The idea behind KARTONizza: campaigns on pizza boxes distributed by pizzerias across the entire DACH region. The execution: via the ‘menu’, customers select their campaign objectives and, if desired, also book the creative work. KARTONizza produces the boxes and delivers them directly to partner restaurants in the target area. ‘Advertising on pizza boxes is like a pizza Margherita to us – the perfect base, ’  says co-founder Pia Steinberg. ‘But KARTONizza adds the necessary seasoning. With various toppings, customers can bake their advertising in a way that really tastes good. ’

Offline channel with tracking included

‘Basilikomm’ zur Post’, ‘First funghi, then passengers’ or ‘Pizza in 20 minutes, fibre in seconds? ’ KARTONizza pizza boxes offer more than witty wordplay and creative campaigns. With ‘digital toppings”, they also provide relevant proof of advertising effectiveness in the form of AI-based eye-tracking studies, individual surveys, QR codes and the proprietary Carton Radar. This gives advertisers insight into the success of their campaign. The basis is a dashboard that allows advertising clients to see exactly how many pizza boxes were distributed in which restaurant, how often they were scanned in each region, at what time and on which device. Instead of boring tables, the data is visualised with small pizza slices as markers.

Before a campaign goes live, each pizzeria receives a photo of the box and can decide for itself whether the design really fits its guests. ‘Sometimes the message is too hot, ’  laughs Pia Steinberg. For example, campaigns for the Deutschlandticket or public transport providers from Cologne and Aachen were deliberately not placed with classic high-end Italian restaurants, but where the respective target group could actually be reached. This fine-tuning is crucial to the success of the campaigns. Communication with partner restaurants takes place exclusively via WhatsApp, ‘which creates closeness and trust’, says the founder from Hamburg.

12,000 partner pizzerias and double success  

This approach is clearly resonating: just one year after founding the GmbH, the start-up continues to grow steadily. The team is being expanded on an ongoing basis, further positions are being advertised, more than 12,000 partner pizzerias distribute the printed boxes, and clients such as Lotto Bayern, Dr Oetker, McFit and many others are already using the advertising format. The goal: ‘Around 435 million pizza boxes are distributed in Germany every year. By 2026, we want to run 5 million of them through KARTONizza. ’ They are already very close to reaching this milestone. At the same time, the overall figure highlights the long-term potential of the market.

The success at the German Brand Awards 2025 is certainly helping too, where the duo received two awards: the Winner title Newcomer Brand of the Year and Corporate Service. The jury’s reasoning: KARTONizza shows ‘how effectively brand communication can be embedded in everyday life. ’  The project combines creative communication with measurable reach and makes offline advertising data-driven and analysable. For the founders, this is a milestone: ‘An award like this really has your back, especially when talking to larger clients. It signals externally that we are not just any startup with a nice idea, but that there is more behind it – something worthy of an award. ’

read the full interview (in German)