Question
How can a movie promotion feel like something only MOD Pizza would do?
Exploration
MOD Pizza partnered with Disney to promote Tron: Ares, a film built around the idea of worlds colliding—digital and physical, human and machine. The opportunity wasn’t just to borrow from that story, but to translate it into MOD’s world in a way that felt natural. From the start, the work focused on finding overlap between the film’s universe and MOD’s own culture: fast, customizable, people‑first, and inherently social. The goal was to create an experience that felt less like an add‑on campaign and more like a playful extension of being inside a MOD restaurant.
Expression
The team shaped an augmented reality game that guests could access directly in‑store by scanning a QR code on tables, signage, or a pizza box. Inside the experience, guests placed a digital pizza box in their environment which opened up to reveal a digital city that emerged from the pizza. Players raced a Tron‑inspired light cycle through the city collecting power‑ups, navigating obstacles, and beating the clock. The environment, gameplay, and pacing were designed to feel quick, approachable, and repeatable. Physical touchpoints—window clings, stickers, and signage—extended the experience beyond the screen, making the restaurant itself part of the moment.
Meaning
The result was a movie partnership that felt unmistakably MOD. Guests didn’t just see branding—they interacted with it, played it, and shared it. With over 20,000 plays and strong average engagement, the experience demonstrated how immersive technology can feel human when it’s rooted in brand behavior and real spaces. Tron entered MOD’s world without overpowering it, creating a promotion that felt native, memorable, and worth coming back to.
Executive Creative Director: JP Flores
Art Director: Levi Whitehead
Experience Technologist: David Peniston
Key Art
AR Experience
