CASE STUDIES

PIZZA HUT INDIA
Overview

Launch of a New Pizza Crust - Freshizza

Create awareness for the introduction of the new pizza crust ‘Freshizza’, highlighting FRESHNESS of the dough as a key ingredient for a perfect pizza.

Situation Analysis
Each Pizza Hut restaurant prepares fresh dough several times a day on premise, unlike competing brands whose stores receive crusts from a few central commissaries making the dough older by 1- 2 days. This fact had not been leveraged by Pizza Hut in the past. In the course of product development, Pizza Hut had commissioned research to evaluate the proposition of ‘Fresh’ among consumer focus groups. The key findings here revealed that ‘Freshness’ in the context of Indian bread (chappati’s) implied kneading fresh dough daily. Consumers preferred chappati’s made from freshly kneaded dough as they were softer and tastier than those made from two day old dough. This was unlike the perception on pizza’s where ‘Freshness’ was only understood as a piping hot pizza.

Strategy
The PR programme decided to use both the insights gained from the commissioned research, to present an all new pizza crust and focus on leveraging editorial opportunities to create awareness for freshness and differentiate the product on taste. In order to add credibility to product claims and influence media on the freshness of the product, PR Pundit considered it vital to get a leading food critique to endorse the product. Through dialogue and product sampling, the PR programme earned the support of India’s leading food writer Rashmi Uday Singh, a lady whose name is synonymous with good food in India, to demonstrate the freshness of the Pizza Hut’s pizzas, through a unique ‘Freshizza Cookery Show’.

The Challenge
The challenge was to garner media support to create awareness for freshness and differentiate the product on taste.

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