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PizzaExpress Live – DPC Launch & PR Amplification

We managed the full launch of PizzaExpress Live at Dubai Production City, blending organic social media, performance marketing, influencer collaborations, and high-value PR to turn a new opening into a recognised dining destination.

Client Overview

PizzaExpress Live is the entertainment-led evolution of the much-loved PizzaExpress brand, pairing its signature dough-fresh pizzas and house cocktails with live music and a buzzing social atmosphere. For its new Dubai Production City (DPC) outlet, the brand wanted more than a quiet opening; it wanted to arrive with presence. The goal was clear: introduce the venue to a new neighbourhood, build a credible digital footprint from scratch, and convert online attention into real footfall during one of Dubai’s most competitive dining seasons. We came on board to lead that journey end to end, from the first launch post through the festive, Valentine’s, and Ramadan periods.

Client Challenges

How We Helped

Built the venue’s Instagram presence from the ground up, publishing a steady mix of posts, reels, and stories that captured the food, the energy, and the live-music identity that sets PizzaExpress Live apart.

Curated a rolling roster of food, lifestyle, and nightlife influencers each month, matching creator audiences to the DPC catchment rather than chasing follower counts alone.

Planned content and activations around the moments that matter, from the launch window through the festive season, Valentine’s, and Ramadan, so the brand always showed up when diners were deciding where to eat.

Ran message-led Meta Ads campaigns tied to real offers, such as Express Lunch, Signature House Brunch, Friday Drunch, and Iftar, designed to move people from scrolling into direct enquiries and bookings.

Secured tier-one and lifestyle press coverage to wrap the influencer buzz in editorial credibility and give the new outlet authority from day one.

Generated and encouraged Google reviews throughout the campaign to build the kind of social proof that converts undecided diners searching for a nearby spot.

Tracked profile visits, link taps, and business-address taps as genuine intent signals, then optimised content and spend toward what was actually driving venue discovery.

Repurposed top-performing creator and owned content across formats to stretch reach further and keep the feed feeling fresh without constant new production.

Reviewed performance month over month, doubling down on the campaigns and creative angles delivering the lowest cost per enquiry and the strongest non-follower reach.

The Numbers, Platform by Platform

Meta Ads — Advantage+ Shopping, engineered for return

The Meta account tells the clearest story of the strategy in action. Across 194 campaigns and £28.7K in total spend, the account reached 1.07M people; but the value wasn’t in the volume, it was in the structure. The premium Advantage+ Shopping campaign returned a 9.28x ROAS, turning £7,066 into high-value purchases, while the video shopping campaign scaled to 814K reach and still held a healthy 4.03x return. Top-funnel prospecting stayed remarkably efficient at just £0.25 per landing-page view. The dashboard shows exactly where the return was concentrated; and how deliberately the spend was weighted toward the campaigns that earned it.

Google Ads — Intent, captured at scale

Google was where we captured demand at the moment of intent. The overview shows 26.8K clicks and 108.98 tracked conversions across the 30-day window, against £38.5K in spend. Cost per conversion landed at £353; a benchmark we flagged openly rather than hid, because it’s the number we’re now actively compressing through ongoing bid and creative testing. Search and shopping carried the high-intent traffic, and the dashboard makes the trajectory visible across the full reporting period.

Shopify - Where the spend becomes revenue

Shopify is where the whole funnel reconciles. Total sales reached £257.4K, up 3% on the prior period, across 212 orders. The headline number, though, is the conversion rate: up 44% store-wide. And it came alongside an 18% drop in sessions; fewer, better-qualified visitors converting harder. The dashboard captures the core thesis of the entire campaign in a single view: less traffic, more money, by design.

Results & Transformation

From a brand-new page to a recognised DPC dining name in four months

Starting from just 239 followers, PizzaExpress Live grew into an established local presence, supported by millions in earned media, a steady stream of customer enquiries, and content that consistently reached far beyond its own audience.

Instagram grew from 239 to 535 followers across four months, with month-on-month gains of roughly 26%, 45%, 12%, and 9%
Activated 48+ influencers over the campaign, with combined reels reaching well over 1.4M views
Secured 30+ media placements, including a Tier-1 Khaleej Times feature, generating over 12M potential reach and more than $1.1M in earned media value across the festive, Valentine’s, and Ramadan campaigns
Drove 290+ direct messaging conversations through message-led Meta Ads tied to real dining offers
A single February reel hit 202,957 views with 96.9% non-follower reach, proving the brand’s ability to scale through discovery
Built early review credibility with 30+ Google reviews and rising business-address taps signalling genuine visit intent

A Word From Our Founder

“Launching a new outlet means starting from zero, no audience, no local awareness, no proof you exist. With PizzaExpress Live at DPC, we couldn’t afford to be quiet or slow. We built the page from the first follower, layered in influencers and tier-one press to borrow credibility fast, and ran ads tied to real offers so attention turned into actual enquiries. In four months it went from a brand-new account to a recognised dining name in the neighbourhood. In Dubai, a launch only works if it arrives with presence, and that’s exactly what we engineered.”

— Pal Bhattia, Founder and CEO, PAL DMC

What Clients Say About Us

“Working with PAL DMC has been a game-changer for our brand. Their digital strategies are not only creative but also incredibly effective. We saw a noticeable increase in engagement and lead quality within weeks.”