Romano’s harnesses AI for first-ever brand campaign ‘Everyday Masterpieces’ via MintHC

After 50 years as one of New Zealand’s most-loved supermarket pizza brands, Romano’s has launched its first-ever brand campaign, marking a major milestone for the heritage business. Titled “Everyday Masterpieces”, the campaign was conceived by long-term agency partner MintHC who have embraced generative AI to bring the concept to life.

The campaign concept is built around the insight that Romano’s pizzas help make everyday moments taste great – with a creative twist that draws on the brand’s Italian inspiration and deep affection from New Zealanders. Iconic Italian artworks are reimagined with a local flavour: the Mona Lisa smiles at a casual summer soirée, two flatmates pass a slice of pizza à la The Creation of Adam, and a Kiwi dad in a cheekily censored apron stands proudly at his backyard pizza oven in a tribute to Michelangelo’s David.

Alan Kang, Creative Director at MintHC, led the campaign and welcomed the opportunity to take such a bold creative leap for a first-time brand campaign: “It’s pretty unheard of for a successful brand like Romano’s – which has been around since 1975 – to be launching its very first advertising campaign 50 years later,” says Kang. “And it’s incredibly exciting to be doing it with a solution that fully embraces the possibilities of AI.”

Kang says the trust and clarity shown by the client from the outset made the process a true creative partnership: “AI is an incredible tool, but it’s a bit like a wild horse,” he adds. “It doesn’t always do what you want it to – but when you learn how to steer it, it can take you places you couldn’t reach before. We saw AI not as a shortcut, but as a creative enabler – helping us deliver more imagination, faster and smarter.”

This is one of the first campaigns in New Zealand’s FMCG sector to be executed entirely with generative AI. The team at MintHC turned to the technology as a way to unlock high-impact creative without the cost of traditional production and direct more budget into media placement.

In a full-circle creative moment – where classical art meets digital innovation and then returns to the physical world – the AI-generated visuals from the “Everyday Masterpieces” campaign are being brought to life as hand-painted murals in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, designed to surprise and delight passers-by. These placements will be supported by a nationwide campaign across out-of-home, video-on-demand, social, and retail integration, including POS and sales activations to maximise visibility and recall.

“This campaign is a big moment for us,” says Brad Kirkpatrick, Managing Director at Romano’s. “We’ve always focused on making a great product, and we are proud to be the category leader but we’ve never told our story in this way. With our expansion into more North Island supermarkets, it felt like the right time to step out and connect with shoppers in a fresh, fun, and memorable way.”

MintHC is also supporting the brand’s move into digital storytelling and social engagement, helping Romano’s further continuing the conversation with shoppers beyond the store aisle.