2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Pizza Hut is known for its iconic Stuffed Crust and Pan Pizza. These were the crusts that made the brand famous. But for a new generation of pizza lovers, this infamy came at a price, equaling Pizza Hut with indulgence: thick and heavy pies you order once in a blue moon.

Pizza Hut was losing significant market share to competitors that had built their business on lighter, more “everyday” crusts – the type you could have one, two, or even three times a week.

By the time Pizza Hut launched their own light and airy Handcrafted Crust, mid-to-thin crust options had already built a loyal fan base. (Domino’s Hand Tossed Crust, their #1 competitor, was voted a fan-favorite in Canadian homes. Ouch.

How does the brand redirect Gen Z from their go-to pizza spots and reposition Pizza Hut as a more everyday option through their new handcrafted crust?

Even if your heart wants pizza all the time, it’s hard to justify having it
more than once a week.

With their handcrafted crust uniquely designed as a lighter option, the brand gave people permission to repeat pizza night on any given night.

How? By inviting and challenging them to order their handcrafted crust off the heels of their last pizza order. Yes, even orders from our competitors.

The brand created the Pizza Refill, a first-of-its-kind program where customers could get a free refill on their last pizza. For one day only, customers who brought in an empty pizza box from any competitor (big chains, local restaurants, and even frozen retail brands) received a refill with their handcrafted crust recipe.

To get the word out, they developed a digital-first campaign that ran for just one week, with a 15s launch video featuring pixelated competitor boxes as people rushed into the store. The video was supported by social posts and community engagement to detail event logistics. In the days leading up to the event, every pizza order was essentially a Pizza Hut order.

The campaign worked hard to boost Pizza Hut’s cultural cred, seeing huge lifts across social – the highest in the Hut’s history – as well as bringing traffic to their stores to try (and buy) their new handcrafted crust.

There was a 100% increase in foot traffic (on average, across 600 stores) and a 10% increase in pizza sales.

Not only did they bring more customers in, but those who came through actually paid to add additional pizzas to their free pizza refill. They overtook Domino’s for the #1 spot in brand buzz (YouGov) and laced top of mind for the 2-month campaign window with Gen Z ( more than 50M impressions).

The agency wanted their work to excite and engage the next generation of Hut lovers (and they did just that).

The campaign garnered a 28% growth on TikTok following (following grew 170% faster than competitors).

The content not only drove an increase in following but was so engaging and relevant that 78.5% of all their views came from the organic
‘For You Page’ placement.

Credits

President: Ben Tarr
Co-Chief Creative Officers: Steve Persico, Lisa Greenberg
Chief Strategy Officer: Tahir Ahmad
Managing Director, Account Services: Natasha Dagenais
Executive Creative Director: Kohl Forsberg
Creative Directors: Andrew Hart, Ryan Lawrence
Senior Copywriter: Layton Wu
Senior Art Director: Matthew McDonald
Senior Producers: Rosanna Rassat, Jesse Katzev
VP, Co-Production Directors: Melanie Palmer, Emma Du Boisson
Group Strategy Director: Pooja Beri
Senior Strategist: Aleeza Yermus
Group Account Director: Scott Lyons
Account Director: Graham Copestake
Account Executive: Vanessa Niragira
Integrated Project Manager: Jessica Rinaldi

Creative Agency: Martel
Présidente: Nancy Rozender
Directrice de Comptes: Ariane Gauthier Roy
Superviseure de Comptes: Catherine Salloum Yared
Traducteur-rédacteur: Alexandre Lessard
Productrice Senior: Josée Lalonde

Production House: The Pub Productions
Director: Cameron Marshall
Executive Producer: Terry Theofilactidis
Line Producer: Tyler Reid
DP: Reid Marshall & Andrew Wilcox

Post-Production: Leo Productions
Executive Producer: Gord Cathmoir
Editor: Ryan Tomka
Motion Graphics: Dan Purdy

Audio: SNDWRx
Creative Director & Casting: Didier Tovel
Composer: Colin Brown, Mike Henley
Engineer: Alex Gluch

Media: Wavemaker
Group Account Director: Dan Boem
Associate Director: Shakira Moore
Media Planner: Rachella Du
Assistant Media Planner: Heman Madan

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

PR: Edelman

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