17510: Yum! Brands Says Yuck! To Pizza Hut.

 

Advertising Age reported Yum! Brands is slicing Pizza Hut from the corporate portfolio.

 

The sale scenario posed an opportunity for WPP, which could’ve acquired the restaurant chain and created a new unit—WPPizza—delivering pies to clients and White advertising agencies in the network.

 

Such an enterprise also could’ve offered employment possibilities for the thousands laid off by the single White operating company.

Pizza Hut is being sold for $2.7 billion

 

Yum Brands Inc. is selling its struggling Pizza Hut division for $2.7 billion, allowing the restaurant operator to focus on its better-performing KFC and Taco Bell chains.

 

Private equity firm LongRange Capital will acquire Pizza Hut excluding China for $1.5 billion, Yum stated Tuesday. Yum China Holdings Inc. will buy the rest of the business for $1.2 billion. The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter.

 

Yum’s shares rose as much as 3.6%. The stock had gained 2.2% this year through Monday’s close, trailing the S&P 500’s 10% advance.

 

Investors had been expecting Yum to offload Pizza Hut, which it has owned since the restaurant company spun off from PepsiCo Inc. in 1997. The sale should help Yum sharpen its focus, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Michael Halen said.

 

“This enables them to divert their resources, their people, their energy and their capital toward one very high-growth chain and one very solid-growth chain,” he said.

 

Bloomberg reported in May that LongRange had entered exclusive talks with Yum to buy Pizza Hut. The company said last year that it was conducting a strategic review after years of trying to revive stagnant sales at the chain known for its pan pizzas with thick, buttery crust.

 

Domino’s pressure

 

Domino’s has trumped Pizza Hut in areas including menu innovation, marketing, ordering technology and delivery infrastructure, said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData. Pizza Hut also is a less popular option for casual diners who are eating in, as they look for larger menus and more contemporary environments, he said.

 

Pizza Hut’s U.S. business has underperformed peers in recent years, according to data from restaurant research firm Technomic Inc. The category got a lift as Americans ordered in during the pandemic, but sales have petered out since. Chains have launched a bevy of deals to boost traffic. Pizza Hut has struggled to compete.

 

“This is as promotional an environment as I’ve seen,” Halen said. At Pizza Hut, “the quality of the product wasn’t good, and the real estate here in the U.S. was a problem. You have these big stores and nobody is coming to your stores to sit down and eat.”

 

Pizza Hut’s share of Yum’s revenue has declined every year since 2019, shrinking to about 12% in 2025 from more than 18% six years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. During that period, Pizza Hut’s revenue has hovered around $1 billion, while Yum’s revenue grew by about 47% to $8.2 billion last year.

 

The deal will leave Yum with KFC, its largest brand at $3.5 billion in annual sales, Taco Bell ($3 billion) and Habit Burger & Grill ($570 million).

 

“Pizza Hut has dragged on the otherwise solid results from the group,” Saunders said in his note. “In essence, the good numbers from KFC and Taco Bell have been clouded by the ongoing sales slides and profit slips at Pizza Hut.”

 

For Yum China, acquiring Pizza Hut in China will give it control of what it describes as the largest casual dining brand in the country, with segment revenue of $2.3 billion last year. It plans to boost locations to more than 6,000 by 2028 from roughly 4,400 at the end of March.

 

LongRange, based in Stamford, Connecticut, owns companies including 24 Hour Fitness.

17445: WPP Media QSR WTF.

 

MediaPost reported WPP Media was named integrated media agency for KFC and Pizza Hut in Singapore, allegedly after a competitive shootout.

 

The four-sentence report stated spending for the brands was not disclosed; plus, incumbents and competitors were not identified.

 

Was the victory sealed via Corporate Cultural Collusion, cronyism, or colonization? Probably a conspiratorial combination of all three.

 

WPP Media Wins KFC, Pizza Hut Singapore Assignments

 

By Steve McClellan

 

WPP Media has been appointed integrated media agency for KFC Singapore and Pizza Hut Singapore, following a competitive pitch.   

 

The agency’s remit includes media strategy, planning, and buying for both brands across the market.

 

Spending was not disclosed, and the incumbents on the account were not identified.  

 

WPP Media has existing relationships with both brands, working with them in parts of Europe, Asia Pacific, and other regions.  

17409: Pizza Hut Pasta Campaign Is Traditional BS.

 

This Pizza Hut campaign from Publicis Middle East in Dubai, UAE, is explained as follows:

 

Pizza Hut launched a new pasta range. But an American fast-food brand that doesn’t even exist in Italy isn’t exactly the most credible voice on pasta. So we went after approval from the ultimate experts: Italians.

The problem? Our pasta doesn’t follow tradition. Traditional Italians would never approve it. But we used them anyway.

 

Um, this concept probably should not have been approved.

17224: Fast Food, Fast Moves, Not-So-Fast Progress.

 

Advertising Age reported Yum! Brands shifted Taco Bell and Pizza Hut assignments across its roster of White advertising agencies. The fast-food corporation regularly moves account work, seeking sales increases that no shop seems capable of sustaining.

 

Perhaps Americanized tacos and pizza simply aren’t appealing.

 

“We are partnering with VML to consolidate our TV creative alongside social, CRM, and loyalty as a strategic imperative essential to our brand growth agenda,” stated Pizza Hut’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer. “We are laser-focused on selling pizza and wings while feeding good times and connecting people through the joy of pizza. To truly own that space, it’s critical that, in partnership with VML, we deliver a cohesive, integrated, and consistent experience across every consumer touchpoint.”

 

The statement deserves a single-word response: Yuck!

 

Big creative agency changes at Yum Brands—Deutsch gets a smaller role with Taco Bell and VML wins Pizza Hut

 

By Brian Bonilla, Erika Wheless, and Ewan Larkin

 

Yum Brands is making key agency changes for two of its biggest brands—Taco Bell and Pizza Hut—diminishing Deutsch’s creative role on Taco Bell and removing the agency from the pizza chain’s roster.

 

Pizza Hut confirmed to Ad Age that it has consolidated all of its U.S. creative duties with VML. Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Deutsch had been named the pizza chain’s lead creative agency last year.

 

“We are partnering with VML to consolidate our TV creative alongside social, CRM, and loyalty as a strategic imperative essential to our brand growth agenda,” Melissa Friebe, Pizza Hut’s U.S. chief marketing officer, wrote in a statement. “We are laser-focused on selling pizza and wings while feeding good times and connecting people through the joy of pizza. To truly own that space, it’s critical that, in partnership with VML, we deliver a cohesive, integrated, and consistent experience across every consumer touchpoint.”

 

WPP’s VML was initially added to the Pizza Hut roster last year to handle customer promotions, loyalty and CRM efforts.

 

Deutsch was hired by Pizza Hut in November 2024 after the agency successfully rolled out its “Sorry, Chicago” campaign for the chain’s Chicago tavern-style pizza.

 

VML referred the comments to the client. Deutsch didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

 

Changes at Taco Bell

 

Deutsch’s role with Taco Bell is also shrinking, according to three sources close to the situation.

 

Taco Bell did not confirm or deny roster changes, commenting: “Across the globe, Taco Bell taps a wide network of agencies that includes Deutsch, Biite, Edelman, Wasserman, Spark, and The Syndicate to bring its creative vision to life. At times, the brand also draws on specialized partners with specific expertise for special assignments or projects.”

 

In an earlier interview, Taylor Montgomery, Taco Bell’s global chief brand officer and former U.S. CMO, told Ad Age that the brand was looking to “make sure that some of the key brand narrative—our brand equity and positioning and our brand design—is all coming from a very consistent place. And that’s a combination of our partners at Deutsch and then our internal creative agency.”

 

Deutsch’s remit is currently unclear and the agency did not return multiple requests for comment.

 

Food culture agency Biite has become a “main agency” within the Taco Bell roster, Guto Araki, Biite’s founder told Ad Age. Biite has been taking on more of Taco Bell’s business over the last two years that had earlier been handled by Deutsch. Just last week, Biite launched a campaign introducing the chain’s new crispy chicken menu.

 

The agency was behind the 2024 “Live Más Live,” Taco Bell’s first tech-style keynote, and produced this year’s Taco Bell Super Bowl ad that featured its fans in drive-thrus.

 

Notably, Araki worked with Deutsch (then known as Deutsch LA) in multiple lead creative roles from 2015 to 2022. He also worked on Taco Bell’s first global campaign in 2021.

 

The moves mark the latest agency changes made by Yum Brands. Its largest chain, KFC, shifted to an agency roster approach in 2024, adding Highdive, which has been behind that chain’s latest work, including its chicken tender battle and a recent spot featuring an angry Colonel Sanders. IPG agency MullenLowe had previously handled KFC’s U.S. creative.

 

The shifts come as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut look to grow internationally and draw back consumers, respectively.

 

Taco Bell has been a bright spot in a fast-food environment where consumers are cutting back on dining out. The chain reported its U.S. same-store sales were up 4% in the second quarter. Taco Bell is currently rounding out its Decades Menu, which has brought back favorites from previous years, with menus today featuring items from the early 2000s.

 

In his interview, Montgomery said that in 2026 the chain is planning to highlight more occasions where it can show up for consumers, as well as continuing to focus on crispy chicken and its drink concept, Live Más Café. Taco Bell is also looking to nearly double its number of international locations to 3,000 by 2030.

 

Sibling brand Pizza Hut has been struggling in the pizza category, with second-quarter same-store sales down 5% in the U.S., pacing well behind rivals Domino’s (up 3.4%) and Papa Johns (up 1% in North America). Friebe—who came to Pizza Hut after many years at Taco Bell—has been with the pizza brand for a little over a year.

 

Pizza Hut recently rolled out a new all-red logo featuring oozing Zs, a look that divided designers; current ads are for the brand’s personal Flatzz pizzas and its Big Dinner Box to feed a crowd.

16872: Pizza Hut, Hut, Hike, Er, Punt!

 

Advertising Age reported Pizza Hut hired—or technically rehired—White advertising agencies, tapping Deutsch and VML for creative and customer marketing duties, respectively.

 

The moves coincide with Global Chief Brand Officer and US Chief Marketing Officer re-appointments at Pizza Hut.

 

The recycling revolving-door routine is sure to rerun ruinous results.

 

Has anyone considered simply improving the pizza?

 

Pizza Hut Hires Deutsch and VML In Agency Roster Shakeup

 

Agency changes come as the chain looks to rebound from a sales slump and reach new audiences

 

By Ewan Larkin

 

In a revamp of its agency roster, Pizza Hut has hired Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Deutsch and WPP’s VML to oversee creative and customer marketing, respectively. 

 

Deutsch will manage brand strategy and creative, assuming responsibilities previously held by GSD&M. In August, Pizza Hut parted ways with the Omnicom-owned agency, bringing to an end a relationship that had spanned six years. Deutsch’s remit will include paid social and video content, according to Pizza Hut. 

 

The appointment reunites Deutsch and Pizza Hut. The two worked together from 2014 to 2016, before Droga5 won the business. Deutsch, which picked up a project for Pizza Hut (below) before nabbing the full account, is also the lead agency for Yum Brands sibling Taco Bell. It won the Pizza Hut business without a formal review, as did VML.

 

VML, which has also previously worked with Pizza Hut, will oversee customer promotions, loyalty and CRM efforts, and digital assets. It’s a new role on the roster, designed to “further invest in the full digital consumer journey,” the chain told Ad Age.

 

The WPP agency will also handle organic social, taking away some work from ​​Mischief @ No Fixed Address, which was named social agency of record in November 2023. Pizza Hut confirmed that Mischief will no longer handle social, but added it will continue to tap the agency as a “valuable partner for earned buzz work.”

 

Mischief’s work for the chain has included campaigns such as “ResZAmes” and the “Personal Pan Pizza Hut.” The indie agency referred calls to comment to the client.

 

Pizza Hut will continue to work with Alison Brod Marketing + Communications for U.S. PR and Publicis Groupe’s Spark Foundry for media, it confirmed. The brand also works with RQ for influencer marketing and Tracey Locke for shopper marketing.

 

Pizza Hut had U.S. measured-media spending of $99 million in the first two quarters of 2024, according to data from MediaRadar, down 21.2% from the same period in 2023. The company spent $234 million on U.S. measured media for all of 2023, MediaRadar reported. 

 

The brand has made marketing leadership changes this year, including naming former PepsiCo executive Kalen Thornton as global chief brand officer. It also appointed Melissa Friebe as U.S. chief marketing officer. Friebe joined after nearly three decades at Taco Bell, most recently as chief brand strategy officer. 

 

Bringing on Deutsch and VML “signals the priority we place on creative work and customer engagement strategies,” Friebe said in a statement. The agencies will work together to drive a “new era of growth,” according to Pizza Hut, which in August told Ad Age it was focused on “modernizing the brand and reaching new audiences.”

 

The agency changes come as Pizza Hut has struggled to attract consumers. The chain’s U.S. same-store sales were down 1% for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, while Taco Bell reported that U.S. same-store sales were up 4%. Competitor Domino’s U.S. same-store sales were up 3% for the same period, while Papa Johns’ North America comparable sales were down 6%.

 

Other Yum Brands brands have made agency changes in recent months. In September, KFC moved to an agency roster model for its U.S. creative business, removing IPG’s MullenLowe as its lead shop. 

 

Contributing: Erika Wheless and E.J. Schultz

16646: Is Pizza Hut Set To Slice Its White Advertising Agency?

 

Mediapsssst at MediaPost speculated on a possible/probable account review for Pizza Hut, as the restaurant chain hired a new Global Chief Brand Officer from PepsiCo and US CMO from Taco Bell, mere weeks after recruiting former Wendy’s Global CMO to serve as US President. That’s a lot of fast food experience likely hungry for accelerated change.

 

It would be funny if a pink slip is delivered to incumbent White advertising agency GSD&M by an Uber Eats driver.

 

Is Pizza Hut Gearing Up For An Agency Roster Review?

 

By Richard Whitman, Columnist

 

Pizza Hut today announced the hiring of Kalen Thornton as Global Chief Brand Officer and Melissa Friebe as U.S. CMO, just weeks after hiring former Wendy’s Global CMO as U.S. president.

 

The appointments come amid a decline in sales at the company. In the first quarter same-store sales at the pizza chain, part of YUM! Brands, were down 7%.

 

Can a review of the company’s agency roster be far off?

 

It’s a rhetorical question. My guess is we’ll see the company pull the trigger on a review within the next month or two. That’s often the case when a company brings in new senior marketing talent.

 

Pizza Hut spent an estimated $216 million on measured media in 2023 according to agency research firm COMvergence.

 

Publicis Groupe’s Spark Foundry is the current U.S. media agency incumbent for Pizza Hut. Austin, TX-based GSD&M has been creative AOR since 2018. Last year the company appointed Mischief @ No Fixed Address as its social agency. Tracey Locke is the firm’s shopper marketing agency and Alison Brod Marketing + Communications handles PR.

 

Thornton will assume his new role in June and most recently served as Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketing for PepsiCo North America.

 

Friebe joins Pizza Hut from Taco Bell, (also part of YUM!) where she served in several positions over nearly three decades with the brand, most recently as Chief Brand Strategy Officer. She succeeds Lindsay Morgan, who is departing the brand after serving more than eight years in various marketing leadership roles.

14308: Patronizing Pizza Hut.

Advertising Age spotlighted the new campaign to kick off Pizza Hut becoming the official pizza of the NFL, a title formerly held by Papa John’s. This is like Curly replacing Shemp. The lead commercial—“Lines”—seems to be a counterpoint to John Schnatter’s cultural death spiral, presenting a patronizing pizza party topped with diversity, inclusion and plenty of cheesiness. The responsible White advertising agency is Goodby Silverstein & Partners, which adds an extra layer of hypocrisy to the pie. Pizza Hut Chief Brand Officer Marianne Radley gushed, “The tone of it and the message that’s coming across is something that’s been part of our brand values for years.” Okay, but how did the recent campaign featuring Italian stereotypes reflect the brand values? Plus, the pitch where GS&P won the business starred a standard, exclusive collection of White advertising agencies. Sorry, but Pizza Hut’s dedication to diversity and inclusion is just a bunch of lies lines.

Pizza Hut touches on racial diversity in football ad—but it’s no Nike

By Jessica Wohl

Less than a week after Nike tackled racial diversity head on with an ad featuring former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick, who began the movement to kneel during the national anthem, Pizza Hut is broaching the subject—a whole lot more lightly.

Unlike the reaction that greeted Nike, it’s doubtful the spot will generate any controversy for Pizza Hut, which is just beginning its first season as the official pizza of the NFL. That’s a designation it took over from Papa John’s after its now-departed founder John Schnatter blamed the league’s handling of player protests during the anthem for its weaker pizza sales.

Pizza Hut Chief Brand Officer Marianne Radley said the company hopes to use the first weekend of football season to spread a positive brand message. While the Pizza Hut ad doesn’t carry the NFL logo — more on that in a bit — it is clearly meant to deliver a message of unity to the 70 percent of Americans who identify as NFL fans.

The new spot, called “Lines,” a 30-second ad from new agency GSD&M, is set to run during every NFL game this weekend, and during some college games the following weekend, Radley told Ad Age on Thursday.

The spot begins with shots of various football moments as a voice-over mentions the line of scrimmage, goal lines and yard lines. Then the message is delivered, on cue, as a guy gets his pizzas delivered. The voice-over says, “If we look beyond the lines, all that’s left is common ground.” Then a gathering of people, from various ethnicities, happily eat pizza while watching football.

“It just creates a little bit more of that emotional reason,” Radley says of the spot. In other words, it takes just a hint of a societal stand.

The Pizza Hut ad, set to run during the first quarter of tonight’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles, came together in about a month as a way to promote the work the company is doing on its “brand purpose,” says Radley. Cut downs will also run on social media.

The new spot is meant to complement Pizza Hut’s fall football campaign and share more about company values such as inclusiveness, unity, fun, and getting people together. “Let’s keep it simple, it’s about pizza and football,” she says. “We think pizza is something everything can agree on.”

Of course, it also lands weeks after Schnatter’s use of racial slurs became public and forced rival Papa John’s into PR overdrive. “It was definitely something we listened to and thought of,” Radley says.

With so much conversation about differences, she said, the time was right to focus on similarities. And for those customers who might want to switch chains, Pizza Hut is offering competitors’ customers a free pizza after they join its rewards program and make a purchase.

“We did share the ad with the NFL and it was well received by them,” says Radley.

Still, the spot doesn’t include the NFL shield, which official sponsors can use. Radley says that’s because Pizza Hut wants the values message to play more broadly, not just to NFL fans. The ad is also set to run during some college games the weekend of Sept. 15 (it’s an NCAA sponsor) and is meant to appeal to high school football fans as well.

Radley also showed the “Lines” spot to the Yum Brands chain’s franchisee board, on Thursday morning. “The tone of it and the message that’s coming across is something that’s been part of our brand values for years,” she says.

It also has a completely different feel from Pizza Hut’s typical marketing, which also got a new football update. Just this week Pizza Hut began airing spots featuring Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Pittsburgh Steelers, hyping a $7.99 large, two-topping pizza online deal.

Those more traditional pizza spots will run throughout the season.

As for the ad that’s likely to keep generating buzz, the Colin Kaepernick spot for Nike, “I think Nike definitely gave this a lot of thought and they decided Kaepernick was the right person to represent their 30th anniversary,” Radley says of Nike’s spot, which commemorates the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” work.

14263: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018).

The late Aretha Franklin inspired commercials including American Express, Mickey D’s, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Prodigy Internet and Snickers.

12302: Pizza Hut—Digital Dimwits.

Advertising Age reported Pizza Hut handed its creative digital duties to Deutsch LA. Hey, why not? The client already demonstrated questionable intelligence by approving Deutsch LA’s lame and stereotypical campaign featuring old Italians hating new menu items. So go ahead and assign the digital work to an agency that recently received a spanking from the FTC for deceptive online messaging. Incumbent Digitas will apparently stay on the roster to cover digital media buying and planning, which could be a precaution for policing Deutsch. Then again, it actually means there will now be two White agencies actively inflating YouTube views, faking Facebook likes, tweeting Twitter raves, loading up LinkedIn love, etc.

Deutsch Los Angeles Picks Up Digital Duties on Taco Bell

Incumbent Digitas Will Stay on Roster for Digital Media Buying and Planning

By Maureen Morrison

Deutsch Los Angeles, the lead creative agency on Taco bell, is adding digital to its duties.

Publicis Groupe’s Digitas in San Francisco had been handling digital for the chain, and just recently helped launch its mobile-ordering and payment app in late October. Deutsch handled the TV creative, but the biggest splash of that campaign was Taco Bell’s blackout of all its social media for a couple of days to draw attention to the announcement. Digitas also created the design of the app, on which it will continue to work.

Digitas will also continue to handle digital media planning and buying. Its sibling agency Spark handles media planning, and WPP’s MEC handles buying.

A spokesman for Taco Bell confirmed the change but declined to elaborate.

Digitas, which won the chain’s digital business in 2012, said in a statement that it was proud of its Taco Bell work and looked forward to doing more. “While we are disappointed by this decision especially on the heels of the transformative mobile ordering launch (which DigitasLBi had a heavy hand—and heart—in creating), we move forward with pride in our people, and conviction for our work,” the agency said. “We continue to be a valued partner for (and value our partnership with) Taco Bell, as we continue our work across digital media, mobile/app, CRM, loyalty, among others.”

Deutsch called Taco Bell a digital marketing leader. The agency has been working on some digital business for the last year and a half, but that now the shop will handle social, digital and platform work, according to Winston Binch, chief digital officer at Deutsch L.A. “We’re most successful when we’re deep in the business,” he said. “Given we’re deeply involved with the Taco Bell brand, having our digital and social team in there now will lead to really great things.”

The move is Deutsch’s latest pickup from Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC. This summer, the agency picked up the Pizza Hut creative account from McGarryBowen without a review. Pizza Hut’s digital account remained with MRY.

Deutsch had also been taking more and more Taco Bell creative work from FCB in the last couple years, to the point that it became the lead agency on the account, though FCB still handles aspects like merchandising. Deutsch L.A. earlier this year led marketing for Taco Bell’s breakfast menu introduction, the chain’s biggest rollout in its history. The shop had picked up increasing digital work from Taco Bell as well.

Deutsch has been putting significant effort into building its digital offering in recent years. Mr. Binch, a former CP&B exec, joined Deutsch in April 2011 and has since grown its digital group to include some 200 employees, according to a person familiar with the agency.

Taco Bell spent about $327.5 million on U.S. measured media in 2013, according to Kantar Media. It’s by far the biggest spender of the Yum brands, with KFC second at $284 million and Pizza Hut third at $247 million.

12240: Pizza Hut Haters Unite!

Pizza Hut is launching its revitalized menu and brand with a painfully long video featuring allegedly real Italians pooh-poohing the new pies. The big idea was to let people with experience making authentic pizza judge the fresh offerings. Um, does anyone connect Pizza Hut’s fare with anything from Italy? This concept is the equivalent of asking Latinos weigh in on Taco Bell foodstuff. Additionally, the heavy stereotyping is questionable. Granted, Pizza Hut’s cartoonish characters may not be as bad as the mobster clichés once presented by Godfather’s Pizza, but is it really necessary to push such imagery? White advertising agency Deutsch LA—which landed the account sans a review—is no stranger to cultural cluelessness. The shop showed a Caucasian speaking like a Jamaican for Volkswagen and positioned Dr. Pepper Ten as a males-only soft drink. Plus, agency figurehead Donny Deutsch has made multiple appearances in this blog’s “C’mon White Man!” series. Pizza Hut should invite real advertising professionals to critique the Deutsch LA work. Or better yet, just hire real advertising professionals next time.

12210: Pizza Hut Seeks More Dough.

Advertising Age reported on the desperate moves Pizza Hut is making to turn around its sinking sales. In addition to 10 new crusts, six new sauces, 11 specialty pizzas, an overhauled website, new logo and fresh uniforms for employees, Pizza Hut handed its account to a new White advertising agency last summer—and Deutsch landed the billings sans a review! So while the fast feeder is undergoing a radical evolution, it’s business as usual on the marketing front, with Corporate Cultural Collusion baked into every pie. Meanwhile, minority agencies can expect to slice up any remaining crumbs on the kitchen floor. Bon appétit!

Cock-A-Doodle Bacon Pizza, Anyone? Pizza Hut Launches Biggest Menu Overhaul Yet

Ailing Chain Launches 10 New Crusts, Six New Sauces and 11 Specialty Pizzas

By Maureen Morrison

Your choices at Pizza Hut are about to go way beyond the Pepperoni Lovers pizza.

The chain is rolling out what it calls its biggest brand evolution ever, adding 10 crust flavors, four “flavor-packed drizzles,” 11 specialty recipes, six different sauces and Skinny Slice Pizzas to its menu.

The company is also overhauling its website, launching a new logo, packaging and even employee uniforms. The new products will be available Nov. 19 nationally, and the chain is expected to launch the biggest campaign in its history around the same time. It did not provide additional details, though the campaign will be called “Flavor of Now.”

New crust flavors include Honey Sriracha and Salted Pretzel, as well as others with odd titles like Get Curried Away and Ginger Boom Boom. Sauces include Premium Crushed Tomato and Buffalo. New “premium” ingredients include salami, fresh spinach and peruvian cherry peppers. Drizzles include balsamic.

The Skinny Slice Pizzas, made from a thinner version of Pizza Hut’s Hand-Tossed Crust, will all be 250 calories or less per slice. There are five options, including the Skinny Club, which includes creamy garlic parmesan sauce, ham, diced Roma tomatoes and spinach with a toasted Asiago crust flavor.

The new specialty pizzas mostly have pun-filled or otherwise wordy names, such as Giddy-Up BBQ Chicken, Buffalo State of Mind, Old-Fashioned Meatbrawl and Cock-A-Doodle Bacon.

The move comes as Pizza Hut is struggling to boost sales amid a protracted decline. It has logged eight consecutive quarters of comparable sales declines, while Yum Brands sibling company Taco Bell has been reporting positive results.

In a surprise move this summer, Pizza Hut moved its account from McGarryBowen to Interpublic’s Deutsch without a review.

The expanded line of products is just the latest change to its menu, as the chain looks to shift perceptions. It’s hoping consumers, particularly millennials, will view it as offering more sophisticated fare. U.S. CMO Carrie Walsh told Ad Age earlier this year that Pizza Hut is responding to research that found consumers are increasingly seeking gourmet, higher quality food with unconventional flavor combinations.

The company started in January with its hand-tossed pizza, touted as having a “lighter, airier crust, cheese blended with five Italian flavors and now brushed with garlic-buttery goodness.” It even included imperfections to give it an air of authenticity. Pizza Hut also introduced garlic-parmesan pizzas (a five-cheese and a chicken-bacon-tomato variety) and three barbecue pizzas promoted by country singer and TV personality Blake Shelton.

“Pizza Hut has been defining what’s possible with pizza since 1958 and our newest changes are the most significant we’ve made in our history as we once again look to take the entire category to another level,” said David Gibbs, CEO of Pizza Hut, in a statement. “We are radically reinventing the pizza category with a menu transformation that more than doubles our amount of ingredients and flavors, a world-class digital ordering experience and an entirely new look and feel to our brand, all the way down to our uniforms.”

11758: Peezza Hut.

From USA TODAY…

Pizza Hut ‘embarrassed’ over peeing video

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Here’s an extra special ingredient that no one wants on their pizza: pee.

But one Pizza Hut in Kermit, West Va., seems to have come a bit too close to almost serving up a taste of that.

Red-faced Pizza Hut officials are fumbling to explain the video of a Pizza Hut district manager — make that, former district manager — who local TV station WOWK-TV caught urinating in the very same sink that the store also uses to wash utensils.

And, no, the manager was not removing an extra-tough stain. In the video, the former manager actually undoes his pants and relieves himself.

“First of all, we are embarrassed by the actions of this individual,” says Pizza Hut, in a statement. “Pizza Hut has zero tolerance for violations of our operating standards, and the local owner of the restaurant took immediate action and terminated the employee involved.”

The incident, which occurred during non-business hours, did not include any food tampering, says Pizza Hut in its statement. “We follow strict safety and handling procedures and the restaurant has since been closed. We apologize to our customers of Kermit, West Virginia, and those in our system who have been let down by this situation.”

To be sure, fast-food employees doing gross things at work is hardly unique to Pizza Hut. Back in 2009, a video went viral of a Domino’s employee picking his nose and placing his findings in the food he’s making. Last year, a video also went viral of a Taco Bell employee licking a long stack of taco shells. That was quickly followed by a viral image of a Wendy’s employee drinking directly out of a Frosty machine. Is this silly-but-sick stuff contagious in the fast-food world?”

No, says public relations guru Peter Himler. “It may be that local media tends to gravitate to this kind of sensationalistic story involving big-named fast food establishments,” he says. Even then, he adds, Pizza Hut needs “to make a forceful case that this is an isolated incident that does not reflect on the company’s culture or workplace procedures.”

The store was closed on Tuesday and will not reopen until it has been completely sanitized and received a clean bill of health from the health department, says spokesman Doug Terfehr.

But like all of the other fast-food incidents, this one, too, will quickly fade, says Himler. “I doubt this will have a long-term negative affect on Pizza Hut’s reputation,” he says. “Blaring headlines today usually fade quickly into the rear view mirror by tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, some folks in Kermit have to be wondering, the next time they order from the local Pizza Hut, do they have to remind whoever answers to phone to, well, hold the pee?

11432: Don’t Play With Your Food.

Pizza Hut Canada presents this contrived Dip Hop commercial combining lame hip hop with unappetizing food shots to create a net impression that’s nauseating on every level imaginable.

11362: Pizza Hut Pitch Prejudiced…?

Adweek reported Pizza Hut has narrowed its search for a new creative advertising agency to four competitors: mcgarrybowen, Mullen, Havas and The Martin Agency. Wow, “creative advertising agency” becomes an oxymoron of sorts when used in reference to that quartet of hackneyed firms. Then again, Pizza Hut is hardly a breakthrough brand these days. Yet it also begs the question as to why any minority shops weren’t considered in the pitch. After all, here’s what Pizza Hut claims on its website:

For us, diversity is a way of life and a way of doing business. Everyone can and does make a difference in our organization. One of our “How We Win Together” principles — Believe in all People — underscores the importance of actively seeking diversity in others; believing everyone has the potential to make a difference; and coaching and supporting every individual to grow to their full capacity. This adds perspective and depth to everything we do. We’ve also found that a diverse team makes for better problem solvers, services all our customers more effectively, and creates a richer culture for all of us to enjoy.

So why does such a forward-thinking and inclusive enterprise want to partner with White advertising agencies where exclusivity is a featured item on the menu? It’s time for Pizza Hut to deliver on its alleged commitment to diversity.

Pizza Hut Cuts to Final 4 in Creative Review

Presentations are scheduled for next month

By Andrew McMains

Four agencies remain standing after a cut in Pizza Hut’s creative review.

Sources identified the shops as mcgarrybowen, Mullen, Havas Worldwide and the incumbent, The Martin Agency. Final presentations are slated for next month.

The latest cut came after Pizza Hut executives met with a half-dozen agencies. The other shops were Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Saatchi & Saatchi, according to sources.

Pizza Hut, which spends about $245 million in media annually, launched its review in June. Select Resources International in Santa Monica, Calif. is managing the process.

Media planning and buying are not in play and remain at Publicis Groupe’s Optimedia. Martin has handled the creative account since late 2009, when the Interpublic Group shop replaced longtime lead agency BBDO.

11224: Exclusive Pizza Party.

Advertising Age reported Pizza Hut has launched a review for its creative business. The Martin Agency—part of IPG—will defend as the incumbent. Pizza Hut declined to reveal the other contenders and whether a search consultant will be used. Gee, it’s hard to guess which IPG shops may be involved. Perhaps Omnicom will enter the fray too. It’s a Corporate Cultural Collusion competition. May the best White man win.

Pizza Hut Launches Creative Review

Incumbent Martin Agency Says It Will Defend Business

By Maureen Morrison

Yum brands’ Pizza Hut has launched a review for its creative account.

The business has been with Interpublic’s Martin Agency since 2009, when the shop succeeded longtime incumbent, Omnicom’s BBDO. Martin said that it was defending the account but referred all other questions to Pizza Hut.

“Pizza Hut is continually looking at fresh ways to enhance its marketing efforts and strengthen relationships and points of engagement with pizza lovers. As a result, we are conducting an advertising agency review,” said the marketer, noting, “We are thankful for the commitment The Martin Agency has made to our business over the past 3 ½ years and have invited them to participate in the review process.”

Pizza Hut declined to disclose participating agencies and whether a search consultant was involved.

Pizza Hut’s media agency, Publicis Groupe’s Optimedia, is unaffected by the search.

Among parent company Yum Brands’ chains, Taco Bell and KFC, Pizza Hut is the third-largest measured media spender, according to Kantar Media. In 2012, Pizza Hut spent about $240 million on U.S. measured media, while KFC spent about $263.5 million and Taco Bell spent about $280 million.

11205: IPG Slices Up The Pizza Pie.

Advertising Age reported Chicago startup agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul picked up business from Pizza Hut—sans a review. It must be noted that principal Tom O’Keefe is a former leader of Draftfcb with strong ties to Pizza Hut parent Yum! The current lead AOR for Pizza Hut is The Martin Agency. Draftfcb and The Martin Agency are sister shops under IPG, the holding company that is also backing O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul. In other words, it appears to be another case of Corporate Cultural Collusion, whereby IPG is mimicking the Omnicom tactic of exclusively offering a portfolio of White agencies to major clients. It’s no surprise that Yum! brands used to be part of PepsiCo—which engages in Corporate Cultural Collusion with Omnicom—and Yum! still has a lifetime contract to serve PepsiCo beverages in its restaurants. In short, IPG is hoarding the entire pizza pie while minority shops are left to scratch for any leftover crumbs or mozzarella cheese.

O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul Nabs Pizza Hut’s WingStreet

Agency’s execs have strong ties to parent Yum Brands

By Maureen Morrison

Fledgling Chicago agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul has made its way onto Pizza Hut's agency roster, picking up the creative account for Pizza Hut’s WingStreet brand.

O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul will handle marketing and advertising for WingStreet, PizzaHut’s chicken-wing brand launched in 2003. A spokesman for Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut said the agency “will be providing support for WingStreet as we continue to grow the brand.” Pizza Hut last year spent about $239 million on measured media, but less than $2 million was allocated to WingStreet, according to Kantar Media.

Pizza Hut’s lead shop is Interpublic’s Martin Agency, which handled the WingStreet business. The Pizza Hut spokesman said “Martin handled all creative work for us, including WingStreet, and they will continue to support our core business.” Martin did not comment.

The account was moved without a review to O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul, which has ties to parent company Yum Brands through Tom O’Keefe’s earlier tenure at DraftFCB as chief creative. There he played a key role in the agency’s relationship with Yum, particularly Taco Bell. Nick Paul also was at DraftFCB for an extended period, most recently serving as the agency’s global chief growth officer. O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul opened its doors in March with backing by Interpublic.

When the agency opened, Mr. Paul said that the agency would like to work with Yum. “Our relationship with Yum means a lot to us, and we have loved working on Taco Bell over the past 12-plus years…we’d be thrilled to play a part in putting together work for the brand,” he said at the time.