Connecticut’s Pizza Capital of the U.S. Campaign Claims Major Award

According to a press release from Adams & Knight, a Connecticut tourism campaign that many of us have been hearing about nonstop just scored a huge national win.

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The agency partnered with the Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing & Tourism to create the now-famous “Pizza Capital of the U.S.” campaign, and it just took home the Best in Integration Award at the PRWeek U.S. Awards for 2026. That’s not a small industry trophy either — the PRWeek awards are considered one of the biggest honors in the public relations world.

What makes the win even more impressive is who they beat. The Connecticut campaign edged out national marketing efforts from massive companies like Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Hasbro, and Unilever.

Yes… our pizza campaign beat Coca-Cola.

Read More: The Best Pizza in Connecticut Revealed 

If you’ve spent any time online over the past year, you’ve probably seen the campaign in action. It started with a highway sign welcoming drivers to Connecticut as the “Pizza Capital of the U.S.” and then turned into a full-blown national argument about which state actually makes the best pizza.

According to PRWeek, the campaign leaned into that debate by intentionally stirring the pot a little — basically using what they called “rage bait” to spark strong reactions from pizza fans across the country. It worked. The campaign generated more than 4,000 media placements and over 19 billion earned media impressions, while also driving a 68% spike in Google searches for “Connecticut pizza.”

The conversation even reached late-night TV when the topic came up on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

I’ll be honest about something: this campaign drives me a little nuts.

Not because it’s wrong. Connecticut absolutely has incredible pizza. Anyone who’s spent time in places like New Haven already knows that.

The reason it annoys me is because it’s all anyone talks about now. Every article, every debate, every conversation about Connecticut somehow circles back to pizza. It’s like the entire state’s identity got boiled down to mozzarella and coal-fired ovens.

But here’s the thing: as annoying as it is, the campaign has been extremely effective.

People are talking about Connecticut. People are searching for Connecticut pizza. People are traveling here to try it. And when a marketing campaign manages to dominate the national conversation like that, it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

So even though I might roll my eyes every time another “Connecticut pizza” headline pops up…

They definitely won.