Pizza Hut’s New Box Doubles as Movie Projector

Pizza Hut’s clever new pizza box is also a film projector for smartphones.

Ordering a delivery pizza and watching a movie is pretty much the quintessential American “family night.” Pizza Hut is capitalizing on this synergistic relationship with a brilliantly conceived marketing ploy called the Blockbuster Box.

The brand’s new pizza box comes with a lens, which fits into a perforated hole at the front of the box. All consumers have to do is scan the codes on the box to ‘unlock’ their movie choices, then attach a smartphone to the lens. Moments later, you’re watching a movie projected from the box your pizza came in.

Pizza Hut spokesman Doug Terfehr said that “pizza is a social food, and movies are a social event. Perfect match.” I have to agree with Terfehr. While the Blockbuster Box is clearly just a novelty – and not something you’re going to use more than once – I can see little kids going wild over the idea.

For now, the only movies available are short films produced by Pizza Hut, but I would be shocked if they don’t expand on that at least a bit. I’m not sure anyone wants to sit down and watch a two-hour movie projected out of a pizza box with sound from a smartphone speaker, but including a couple episodes of popular TV sitcoms sounds like a great move.

Sure, it’s just a silly novelty, but sometimes silly novelties sell. I think this is one of those cases. Clever stuff from Pizza Hut.

Howard Davidson Arlington MA

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Pizza Hut Bites A Slice of Dominos

Pizza Hut is determined to take a tasty bite out of Domino’s Pizza’s market share.

A subsidiary of the sweet Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Pizza Hut is known for delivering more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant in the world. Well now, the famous company is on a mission to increase it’s online presence by 20%.

Instead of relying on bread and butter TV ads to reach customers, the chain will soon be delivering some mouth watering social content. The company is looking to create a more intimate and responsive relationship with its customers that isn’t as possible with TV ads’ comparatively glacial feedback pace. Betting against prolonged product engagement via television, these online outlets are more conducive to “more frequent, shorter bursts” whereby consumer response is instantaneous. This dramatic shift isn’t totally out of left field, given that more than 40% of Pizza Hut sales are now made through online means.

The decision also comes fresh off the heels of a relatively successful string of PR stunts, all of which managed to grab headlines and attention. One such stunt, just in time for Valentines Day, saw the pizza parlor open an account on the dating website OK Cupid. Essentially, the pizza people binge on to get over a tough breakup could actually cause it! But before you get on one knee and ask that special slice to be your one and only, know that you’re not alone. According to Pizza Hut’s PR team, online hopefuls from Twitter spill their cheesy guts out with proposals every day.

The company really hopes to take a solid bite out of it’s long time rival, Dominos.

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