Boston Pizza Launches Pizza Gravy and a National ‘Holi-Break’ Campaign to Save Canadians from Holiday Chaos
New holiday platform created by Mekanism Canada delivers the Holi-Break Canadians desperately need.
Boston Pizza is kicking off the holidays by unveiling Pizza Gravy—a first-ever BP product creation that transforms boring, repetitive turkey into festive pizza merriment. Blending the richness of classic gravy with Boston Pizza’s signature pizza sauce, Pizza Gravy is designed to rescue dry turkey and break up the predictable holiday spread. Because while not everyone loves holiday food… everyone does love pizza.
The launch headlines Take a Holi-Break, a new national campaign built on the insight that while the holidays may be branded as “the most wonderful time of the year,” they’re also a season of social overload, turkey fatigue, and festive burnout.
“We all love the holidays, but let’s be honest—they can be a lot,” said Niels van Oyen, Director of Marketing at Boston Pizza. “‘Take a Holi-Break’ taps into that feeling of social overload and turkey fatigue and gives Canadians permission to step away from the festive burnout. At BP, we want to be that sanity-saving sanctuary where people can relax, laugh, and enjoy a moment of joy.”
Designed to intercept Canadians at their peak moments of holiday meltdown, the fully integrated campaign shows up when and where people are feeling it most, like on busy highways, in busy malls and when they’re online shopping. To bring the Holi-Break to life, BP is rolling out a series of playful, contextually driven activations, including:
– Holi-Break Ornament gift cards hidden in chaotic public places for surprise-and-delight escapes.
– A robust OOH and directional media rollout, guiding people to nearby Boston Pizza locations and pointing them straight to the nearest BP so they can tap out and take an instant Holi-Break.
“Holiday fatigue is real and all of the ‘holi-duties’ leave people feeling over-scheduled, overwhelmed and over the endless leftovers,” said Ian Barr, SVP and Head of Strategy at Mekanism Canada. “We wanted to playfully meet Canadians in those peak moments of seasonal frustration and offer a disarming reminder to take a Holi-Break in a uniquely BP way.”
New research shows Canadians have officially hit peak holiday food fatigue: while 67% say gravy is the star of the holiday meal, 3 in 5 are craving new flavours to break up the same-old turkey-and-trimmings routine. Pizza Gravy is BP’s delicious solution—a savoury Holi-Break that gives people permission to laugh, indulge, and reclaim a little joy from the seasonal chaos.
Pizza Gravy is available now for $9.99 (plus tax and shipping) at pizzagravy.ca, while supplies last. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Food Banks Canada, supporting communities across the country at a time of year when need is especially high.
The campaign was created by Mekanism Canada, with media by UM and PR by Heads + Tales, and appears across OOH, Netflix, Mall OOH, Airport OOH, Transit OOH, influencer content, and earned channels.
Methodology
This survey was undertaken by The Harris Poll Canada. It ran overnight on November 11th, 2025, with 1,360 randomly selected Canadian adults who plan to take part in a holiday meal this year and are online panellists.
The results have been weighted by age, gender, region, and education (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of ±2.7%, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals when compared to the data tables are due to rounding.
CREDITS
Title: Take a Holi-Break
Client: Boston Pizza
President of Marketing: Peter Blackwell
Vice President of Marketing: James Kawalecki
Director of Marketing: Niels van Oyen
Marketing Manager: Sean Megna
Associate Marketing Manager: Tonia Osei-Bonsu
Agency: Mekanism
Executive Creative Director: Julie Nikolic
Senior Vice President, Strategy: Ian Barr
Associate Creative Director: Robyn Crummey
Associate Creative Director: Ashley Babcock
Associate Creative Director: Aaron Niven
Associate Creative Director: Dave Fontaine
Group Account Director: Heather Mirynech
Account Executive: Sierra Haddleton
PR: Heads + Tales
Media Agency: UM Canada
Production Company: Witch House Productions
Executive Producer/Line Producer: Jessica Clarke
Director: Sofia Pompei
Director of Photography: Zachary Guy
Production Manager: Alison Henthorn
Production Assistant: Samantha Pearson
Food Stylist: Jason Skrobar
Art Dept: Ella Webber
Post Production: Combo Bravo
Executive Producer: Connor Illsley
Editor: Alison Beland
Animation Studio: Pomelo
Founder / Executive Creative Director: Jason Agar
Animation & VFX: Zak Tatham
Comments