2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Pizza Hut was struggling to connect with ‘the lost generation’ of Gen Z, who knew us solely for their red roof, font and, well, their 6th birthday party. Despite being a fondly remembered pizza pioneer, unlike their competitors, they weren’t cutting through the cultural conversation anymore.

To win with this younger, trend-starting, absurdist humour-loving, double-screening Gen Z target, they needed to show up in more culturally relevant ways, on platforms they were active on.

They jumped on TikTok to see what pop culture was saying about pizza (and Pizza Hut) at that moment. There, they found a new variety of absurdist content being generated by the new creator at the table: Artificial Intelligence. A new AI-generated pizza commercial for a fictional Pepperoni Hug Spot was trending amongst their target, generating over 2 million views in only two days.

To say the Pepperoni Hug Spot was inspired by Pizza Hut would be an understatement — the red roof, the pan pizza, even the font from their logo. Pepperoni Hug Spot was promoting their Pepperoni Hug pizza, lovingly made with Cheese, Pepperoni, Vegetable, Secret Things.

Since the AI creation borrowed from us, they decided to borrow from the AI creation and make Pepperoni Hug for real, attaching themselves to its viral success.

Given the success of the video online, they soft-launched across their social channels with a nod to the AI video and its overlaps with their brand. They took this a step further and made Gen Z part of the conversation by featuring social polls asking whether they should create a Pepperoni Hug Pizza for real.

When the polls came back resoundingly in favour of making it happen, they jumped into action. In a one-week sprint from initial idea to execution, they converted one of their locations to bring Pepperoni Hug Spot and its famous
Pepperoni Hug pizza to life.

To create exclusivity and buzz, they launched the Pizza Hut Pepperoni Hug Spot for one weekend only: May 6th-7th. They cooked up a special Pepperoni Hug pie made with Cheese, Pepperoni, Vegetable (mushrooms), and a touch of Secret Things (Pizza Hut’s famous breadstick seasoning). The store, including exterior/interior signage and staff uniforms, was also converted to feature Pepperoni Hug Spot and help bring it to life.

Leading up to the event, they were also able to secure OOH in high-traffic areas surrounding the location to help build awareness and anticipation of the
Pepperoni Hug Spot launch.

Over a mere one-week period, they were able to garner a large number of impressions with the activation on a shoestring budget and sell out of the
Pepperoni Hug pizzas.

In leading news outlets like BlogTO, Daily Hive, Trend Hunter, Yahoo!, and others, they delivered a total of 20 million impressions (+185.7% higher than the previous campaign). They also increased social impressions by 78% compared to their monthly average over the last 9 months, reaching 276K of their
intended Gen Z audience.

Credits

Agency: Leo Burnett, Toronto
Client: Pizza Hut Canada

Creative Agency: Leo Burnett, Toronto
President: Ben Tarr
Co-Chief Creative Officers: Steve Persico, Lisa Greenberg
Chief Strategy Officer: Tahir Ahmad
Managing Director, Account Services: Natasha Dagenais
Group Creative Director: Ryan Lawrence
Senior Copywriter: London Choi
Senior Art Director: Danielle Zablocki
Design Director: Marcelo Hong
Designer: Jason Vandenberg
Senior Producer: Jesse Katzev
Group Strategy Director: Pooja Beri
Senior Strategist: Aleeza Yermus
Group Account Director: Scott Lyons
Account Director: Graham Copestake

Production Company: FUZE Reps
Director: Arash Moallemi
Executive Producer: Nicole Gomez
DOP: Arash Moallemi

Post Production: Leo Burnett Production
Executive Producer: Gord Cathmoir, Janice Rebelo
Post Producer: Shannon Morgan
Editor: Jeff Poremba
Motion Graphics: Dan Purdy
Production Manager: Bill Ing

Media: Wavemaker
Group Account Director: Dan Boem
Media Planner: Rachella Du

Organic Social: Diamond Marketing
Group Account Director: Colleen Kelly
Account Executive: Alice Fortuniak
Associate Creative Director: Marianne Lau
Copywriter, Content Creator: Dylan Kloek
Art Director, Content Creator: Kass Palter
Senior Digital Strategist: Natalie Legault
Producer: Akriti Suman

PR: Edelman
Senior Vice President: Maggie Waymark
Senior Account Manager: Shae Pollock
Account Manager: Shantelle Naomi Pereira

Client: Pizza Hut Canada
Chief Brand Officer: Daniel Meynen
Marketing Director: Jennifer Ligotti
Marketing Manager: Daniela Di Vito