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Client: Pizza Hut Campaign: Pizza Hut awakens a sleeping 'pasta' giantLocations: USA Nationwide |
Pizza Hut had a Problem: People are Eating Less Pizza
In 2007, pizza category sales declined -1.3% (Source: Crest).
That Made it that much Harder to Grow Their Slice of the Pie
Pizza Hut worked to earn shares of diminishing dollars. Rising costs due to food inflation and higher labor and fuel costs were hammering profits. Ironically, a company named Pizza Hut had to think beyond the pizza box to generate fresh growth.
People are Eating more Pasta than Ever
In fact, research indicates that prior to the Tuscani Pastas launch, Pizza Hut consumers were eating pasta more times per month than pizza. That was it. Pizza Hut was determined to one day, make pasta as big for them as pizza.
But Building a Pasta Giant Would Mean Changing Everything
The pasta that Pizza Hut had historically served in its restaurants accounted for a tiny 0.4% of sales. It was on the menu for people who didn't want pizza rather than having been created specifically for people seeking first rate pasta. The fact was that people didn't expect Pizza Hut's pasta to be any better than the pre-packaged stuff they had in their pantries and freezers. (Source: Pizza Hut Qualitative consumer research), and that's why Pizza Hut had never attempted to offer it for home-delivery before. But like everything, that was about to change.
Our challenge: Make Pizza Hut's pasta the biggest thing in the pizza category since... pizza.
If we were going to get people to seek out Pizza Hut pasta we had to 1) show how Pizza Hut was delivering something deliciously new to America's dinner tables and 2) radically reset perceptions of its quality.
Pasta so Stunningly Good you'd never Think Pizza Hut Made it
"I've already got pasta like that in the freezer"
Consumers were explicit. Pizza Hut's delivered pasta wouldn't be any better than the 'okay' packaged stuff they already whipped up at home. (Source: Pizza Hut Qualitative Research) It also became abundantly clear that yet another 'okay' pasta option for home, even if it was delivered hot and ready to eat, wasn't going to result in the kind growth that Pizza Hut was banking on.
The bigger opportunity came into focus as we spoke to consumers and observed that people seemed to think it was okay to put up with 'okay' pasta if they were at home. If someone wanted delicious, quality pasta, something to really savor, then they had to make a special trip to a restaurant to enjoy it. (Source: Pizza Hut Qualitative Research)
With that insight, Pizza Hut's pasta had found its "noble" purpose. To deliver restaurant quality pasta to your front door... the kind that you used to have to go out to enjoy. Turning this purpose into reality meant overcoming two colossal challenges 1) Making a pasta dish so good you'd think it came from a restaurant, and 2) Making people believe Pizza Hut could do it.
From just 'okay' to 'restaurant quality' virtually overnight
The moment that helped unlock the big idea came when research respondents tried the newly reformulated baked pasta product and point blank refused to believe it was from Pizza Hut because it tasted so good.
Pasta so stunningly good you'd never think Pizza Hut made it.
Consumers' disbelief would become the heartbeat of our strategy. Like any good Judo move that uses one's opponent's strength against them, we embraced the strength of this disbelief that Pizza Hut could offer quality pasta and used it to set up the biggest 'rug pull' of all time with a campaign that challenged people's perceptions and expectations at every twist and turn.
i) A New Concept Helped Us Tell a Different Story
By building a new Tuscani Pastas concept reflective of a vibrant, modern Italian eating experience, we created a new starting point for our conversation with consumers. It was a first key step in resetting expectations.
ii) A Bold and Disruptive Launch Plan that Transformed Pizza Hut into 'Pasta Hut'
Another challenge was to get people past the 'Pizza' in our own name. On April 1, 2008 the President of Pizza Hut kicked off the initial phase of the launch with a bold announcement. Hence forth, Pizza Hut would be changing its name to "Pasta Hut?" All the signage and logos at Pizza Hut's head office were changed to 'Pasta Hut' for the event. People couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. The April Fool's Day stunt sparked an avalanche of news stories featuring Tuscani Pastas, resulting in 275 million media impressions during the course of the launch week alone.
Equally bold advertising grabbed audience attention and built intrigue with television commercials in which we blew up a classic 'Red Roof' Pizza Hut restaurant and replaced it with a new-look store and a new sign: Pasta Hut. A full page newspaper advertisement was placed in USA Today heralding the arrival of Tuscani Pastas.
This was followed by a second phase of television that detailed what Tuscani Pastas were all about and continued to seed the "Pasta Hut" name.
Underpinning the Pasta Hut launch, email blasts and banners drove traffic to a website where consumers could order Tuscani Pastas online. Further trial-driving action was activated across the spectrum of communications including POP, radio, coupons, and special events.
iii) Two Fake Italian Restaurant Openings, Two Fake Chefs, Ten Fake Waiters and 100 Real, Unsuspecting, Hungry Restaurant Patrons
After the initial "Pasta Hut" launch, the campaign focused on resetting consumer expectations around quality and taste.
The idea that, 'Tuscani Pastas are so stunningly good you'd never think Pizza Hut made them' sparked television commercials that featured real people eating and commenting on what they believed to be high-end restaurant-prepared pasta dishes, only to be surprised with the revelation that what they were enjoying was, in fact, Tuscani Pastas from Pizza Hut. These spots captured the reality of people's utter disbelief that pasta from Pizza Hut was that good and held it up as a testament to quality, opening the minds of millions of viewers to trying Tuscani Pastas.
Challenging quality perceptions by finding new, elevated contexts and environments for the Tuscani Pasta story was also at the heart of the media strategy with a sponsorship of the Top Chef Chicago marathon on Bravo and with tagged tune-in promotions, billboards, and units running adjacent to the show. Additionally, we ran vignettes in Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee on Food Network.
iv) An Intense Outreach Program to Influencers
As consumers rely more on trusted sources for recommendations, great emphasis was placed on winning over key influencers. Pizza Hut hosted a Tuscani Pastas tasting in New York City (in the same location as the TV spot was filmed) with food industry opinion leaders including editors of influential 'foodie' magazines. At the grass roots level, a 'food' and 'parent' blog outreach program offered up free samples of Tuscani Pastas resulting in 98% positive mentions on targeted blogs (Source: Pizza Hut research).
Communications Touch Points
Additional Marketing Components:
Approximately 1.1 million "$5 off" coupons were sent to select Pizza Hut customers.
1) Grow of Tuscani Pastas to be a National Concept within the First 6 Month Point.
Result:
In the first 6 months, sales were astounding, delivering 150% of original objectives. (Source: Pizza Hut sales results).
2) Ensure that the Majority of Tuscani Pasta Transactions are Incremental to the Business Limiting Existing Menu Cannibalization.
Result:
Tuscani Pastas proved to be an extremely strong driver of purchase frequency with significantly more than half of all pasta occasions being incremental transactions.
3) Maintain Average Guest Check Despite Lower Cost per Item for Pasta vs a Large Pizza.
Result:
Tuscani Pastas unexpectedly drove Guest Check increases.
In addition to Tuscani Pastas being a phenomenal sales success in its own right, since it was launched, Pizza Hut has consistently outperform the category in sales growth.
Also the positive impact of Tuscani Pastas on traffic was immediately felt with a significant increase vs. pre-launch.
Tuscani Pastas significantly increased advertising brand first mentions by 6 percentage points to 53%. (Source: Pizza Hut qualitative research).
Highly effective television advertising contributed strongly to overall success with the 'Grand Opening LA' :30 and :15 and 'Grand Opening New York' :30 achieving #1 (Aug/Sep), #2 (Aug/Sep) and #2 (Apr/May) respectively on the Ad Age top ten list of most recalled ads.
Anything else Going on that might have Helped Drive Results?
It is important to note that Tuscani Pastas was launched during a time of rampant food inflation that was driving up consumer's grocery bills. Gas was $3.30 a gallon and marching daily towards $4. Disposable incomes were being drastically reduced as people were being more discerning about what they were spending their money on. Tuscani Pastas' strong success was, in many ways, in spite of this challenging economic backdrop.
-- Francis Campbell, Market Intelligence Analyst at r-mark in Miami.
Brian Niccol, Chief Marketing Officer. Pizza Hut