Relaxed Linen

Boston Pizza and john st. take dinnertime weight off your shoulders and put it in your lap.

Several years ago, the GOAT of YA literature Judy Blume, in conversation with Lena Dunham, discussed how her husband had tried to buy her a human-sized thundershirt. For those without skittish dogs, a thundershirt is a garment that wraps tightly around your nervous pet and simulates the feeling of a constant hug to help reduce anxiety, which often occurs around thunderstorms. Alas, there weren’t any thundershirts big enough for Blume to provide anxiety-melting comfort, but that was then and this is now, and the weighted blanket (which in the Canadian market alone our now worth $30 million) has filled the hug shaped hole for human’s seeking warm respite from worry, but what about at the dinner table?

Deciding what to have for dinner can be dispiriting, but Boston Pizza has two solutions to mealtime stress: BP Meal Deals and BP Weighted Napkins, a three-pound (!) napkin that emulates the calming properties of the blanket but makes them serviette sized.

“We invented the Weighted Napkin with Meal Deal People in mind,” said James Kawalecki, VP Marketing at Boston Pizza. “We know meal planning can be stressful, so the Weighted Napkin and our new Meal Deals are intended to help lower the stress.”

Cam Boyd, Creative Director at john st., the agency that helped Boston Pizza create the promotion, adds, “We saw a lot of tension around mealtime. What to eat? Will they like that? Will they like me? Too much stress. But with a BP Meal Deal and this innovative BP Weighted Napkin, people can ease tension from the lap outward.”

Comfort food, meet comfort napkin. The Weighted Napkins are a part of the larger campaign to promote the Boston Pizza Meal Deals. A limited run will be doled out via social media along with $100 BP gift cards starting April 7.

Credits

Title: BP Weighted Napkins

Client: Boston Pizza
SVP Marketing: Peter Blackwell
VP Marketing: James Kawalecki
Director of Marketing: Niels van Oyen
Marketing Manager: Sarah Baird
 
Agency: john st.
Chief Creative Officer: Cher Campbell
Creative Director: Cam Boyd
Copywriter: Marly Dichter
Art Director: Shirley Wang
Strategist: Daavi Wong Wolfson
Producer: Andrew LaGrave
Producer: Danielle Lloyd
Team Lead: Ian Brooks
Account Supervisor: Kelly Brennan
 
Production: FUZE Reps
Executive Producer: Nicole Gomez
Photographer: Chris Robinson

PR: Glossy