• by Larissa Faw , August 8, 2017

BooneOakley is lending its talents to help the Atlanta-based  pizza chain Mellow Mushroom (MM) create a promotion—in the form of new menus--that "people would want to steal."

Believing that a menu reflects the company's core identity, BooneOakley worked with five international artists with like-minded fantastical philosophies and styles. The 195-location chain has developed a reputation as  a kind of bohemian paradise after being co-founded by a couple of Southern hippies in 1974.

“’These menus are a reflection of the art and design work seen in all Mellow Mushroom’s restaurants, where the imaginative décor suggests other worlds, celestial dynamics,"  the agency stated.  "Mellow Mushroom has always believed it’s important for everyone to always feed imagination. And now that’s manifested in their menus.”

Each artist was allowed to develop their own "alternate pizza reality" without any restraints. Their goal was to support the pizza chain’s brand positioning as “a place of self-expression and imagination" and “a place between reality and possibility.” The menus are 20” x 9” when opened and hard bound via coated pressboard.  Some of the menus don’t even include the name of the brand buy they all feature an artist’s bio on the back.

MM reports that some of the menus were quickly “liberated” after being introduced.

BooneOakley’s first work for the chain debuted last fall—shortly after it won the account--by making fun of prescription drug ads.