Casa Virgin
Casa Virgin is a family-owned maker of Italian drizzling oils, cold-pressed in Tuscany and Umbria. Its flagship, Spicy Virgin, is an olio piccante infused with real peperoncino. We launched it with The War on Hot Honey, a two-part film that recast Goodfellas to settle what belongs on a pizza.
Brand film
Hot honey had taken over New York pizza. Casa Virgin's founders grew up in Italy, where olio piccante sits on every table, and a new brand on a small budget couldn't win by politely offering another option. So we declared war on hot honey: real Italians would never put honey on pizza.
The Goodfellas reference was a shortcut to cultural weight: its pacing and confidence signaled tradition and Italian credibility before the product ever appeared. Five cutdowns, campaign stills and a petition-style landing page carried the fight across feeds, and pizzerias around Brooklyn began featuring Casa Virgin.
The Spicy Virgin Roll
Casa Virgin partnered with George Lobster, an Italian lobster roll shop, on a limited-edition Spicy Virgin Roll. We made the film that launched it: an old lobsterman's tall tale from the coast of Maine, subtitled in Italian for George Lobster's customers.
Behind the scenes
“Trash didn't try to make us look like every other food startup. They understood that Casa Virgin needed a point of view — not a pitch. The War on Hot Honey captured something Italians feel instinctively, and the Goodfellas-style launch gave us instant cultural credibility.”
