Pizza Hut – Pizzas and much more: Brand analysis #26

Pizza Hut launched its latest campaign to promote their foray outside pizzas. With their main product offering (pizza) tagged to the brand, the company is trying to outgrow the product and become more than ‘just a pizza place’. With the curious Indian food connoisseur within most Indians, the regular restaurant goer asks the ubiquitousquestion– What’s new. In a bid to satisfy the ‘need for variety’ of most customers, cafes like Café Coffee Day and Barista are broadening their menu by offering a wide range of snacks.

Pizza Hut through the campaign seems to be just ‘jumping in the wagon’. But, that might not help its brand (pizzas and much more) positioning with the ‘much more’ taking more prominence to pizzas. The campaign earns some brownie points by enthusing the regular customer to try the new menu the next time they visit but does not create brand traction to significantly impact sales.

The campaign (and more importantly the brand) needs to focus the message on the core offering and yet promote the delicious frills that come with it. Competitor, Domino’s Pizza in their recent campaign (more about it here) hits the ‘nail on the head’ simply by doing one thing – focusing on their core offering. An effective execution of ‘cross-promotion’ was the recent KFC campaign (more about it here) which adds value to the brand without diluting the core product. With the pizza market growing at 25-30% annually, competition (cafes included) planning rapid expansion in the coming years and India slated to be among the top five global pizza markets, Pizza Hut should create brand distinction strategically, yet conscientiously. They should leverage their brand equity and take care to keep their focus on the core product offering.