THE MAKING OF ‘THE NOTORIOUS P.I.E.’ WITH BROOKLYN BREWERY AND YARD SALE PIZZA

There are some projects that feel like a neat tick on a to-do list. And then there are the ones that quietly tap into your own history, take over your calendar, your camera roll, your group chats, and remind you why you wanted to work in culture-making in the first place. The Notorious P.I.E. was firmly the second for me.

What started as early conversations around how we could inject Brooklyn Brewery into London’s foodie scene beyond the beer slowly evolved into a full-scale collaboration between Brooklyn Brewery UK and Yard Sale Pizza, London’s ultimate delivery pizza joint. A project that went much further than a limited-edition product: we created a genuinely multi-layered campaign that lived across food, drink, social, PR, events and culture.

Here’s what went down from my POV, as a Senior Account Executive working on the project.

You can’t talk pizza and me without talking about the four years I spent in New Jersey for university. Most weekends were split between Brooklyn and Manhattan, and almost always ended with pizza. If you know, you know. Every proper NYC pizza shop has that little shaker set on the counter: oregano, chilli flakes, parmesan, garlic powder.

So when flavour conversations began with Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery’s Brewmaster, and the Yard Sale team, that familiar reference naturally came up. Not as something new to invent, but as something deeply ingrained in New York’s pizza culture. Garrett immediately connected with it, and it became part of a broader discussion about how to ground the pizza in something authentic, recognisable and unmistakably Brooklyn.

From there, the flavours took shape quickly. Inspired by classic vodka sauce, the base brought rich, saucy depth, layered with fior di latte mozzarella and bold chorizo, then finished with fresh basil and that essential NYC sprinkle of parmesan, oregano and chilli flakes.

A veggie version sat alongside it, using the same vodka-style base and seasoning, topped with romano and peppadew peppers inspired by the kind Garrett grows in his own garden. Both pizzas felt like a genuine mash-up of London and New York, shaped by Garrett’s favourite flavour cues and built to be eaten with a crisp, flavourful Brooklyn Brewery beer in hand.

I was lucky enough to be in the room for initial tastings too, watching an idea move from conversation to actual slice crafted by Yard Sale Pizza’s head chef and pizzaiolo Paolo. There’s something surreal about that moment, when something abstract suddenly becomes very real, and absurdly delicious.

Then came the name.

Brooklyn calls pizza a “pie”. Brooklyn gave the world Biggie. And suddenly ‘The Notorious P.I.E.’ gained life thanks to Georgia, our Associate Creative Director.

The name unlocked everything else. The pizza box became a statement piece beyond packaging: the design nodded to Brooklyn’s cinematic history, traditional slice shops and the iconic Brooklyn Bridge I’d walked across many times, romanticising life as does every 20-something in New York City. Every touchpoint felt intentional and rooted in the borough’s influence. It was about letting Brooklyn Brewery exist naturally in a space it already belonged.

This campaign was always designed to live beyond the feed. We were on the ground for promo shoots, tastings, and the launch moment itself. A proper pizza party at Howl at the Moon. Suddenly I was handing out free slices and tokens for cold beers, and slowly what started a quiet evening at the pub became a packed bar with queues outside, despite the rain (it’s London after-all). The kind of atmosphere that reminds you why you do this in the first place.

That night became a content engine. Vox pops with Snake Denton, people genuinely excited to be there, pizza boxes, pints – and pub dogs – popping up across Instagram Stories before we’d even wrapped. It set the tone for everything that followed. Influencers creating buzz on social with over 80% of gifted creators posting content organically. One social collab alone, with London meme powerhouse Socks House Meeting, reached over 1.7 million people, showing just how far the story travelled.

From there, the collaboration rolled out seamlessly. Influencer gifting, a pizza-making and beer-tasting masterclass hosted by Yard Sale Pizza with Garrett Oliver in London, and a PR sell-in that helped the story travel further. Social collabs, meme-led content, lo-fi clips and higher-production storytelling all worked together to bring the partnership to life. Each element fed into the next, creating a natural synergy between Brooklyn Brewery and Yard Sale Pizza.

The Brooklyn Brewery bundle quickly became a Yard Sale Pizza best-seller – with The Notorious P.I.E. exceeding sales expectations and becoming a collab to remember.

I think The Notorious P.I.E. worked because it respected the ecosystem it entered. Food culture, social culture, London’s pizza scene and Brooklyn’s heritage. It showed up in a way that felt natural.

But for me, it was more than a strong campaign. It felt full circle. Hearing Garrett talk about flavours of home while thinking about my own years between New Jersey and Brooklyn, with evenings fuelled by Brooklyn beers (my favourite was always the Bel Air Sour). Watching people queue in the rain for pints, and slices we’d helped bring to life.

That’s the part I’m proudest of. Not just the reach or the sell-out bundles, but the real-life moments, people holding a slice, sipping a pint, laughing with friends.

It reminds us that what we do is striving to build something that belongs. And this one genuinely did. This collaboration started as an idea and ended with real people holding and tasting authentically delicious products and asking when it would be back. That’s always the goal.

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Julia Pietro

A cool cat from Brazil, Julia is an engine room that brings social strategies to life and puts PR campaigns on people’s radars. When not drafting killer copy or landing top-tier coverage, catch her unwinding in museums, parks, or the local coffee joint – her camera roll is testament to this.