Fun@50: Pizza Hut invites the masses

Let's start with some history. When Pizza Hut was still trying to settle down in India, the immediate task for the Yum! Restaurants International (Pizza Hut's parent company) was to establish the credentials of its brand. In other words, the job at hand was to position the brand in the Indian socio-cultural context.

So the Bollywood-inspired Indian 'shaadi' setting was used to make Pizza Hut - a palatable brand experience for Indians.

In the years that followed, the chain focused on streamlining back-end operations and spreading its reach.

On the food experience front, the company launched a plenitude of product innovations (remember, the 'Palat meri jaan' campaign, or the modern mom, or the desi pummy ad for Chettinad pizza?) to reiterate its commitment towards delivering an authentic Indian dining experience.

But there remained a little thorn of price-related perception - the common man was essentially unsure if the Pizza Hut pizza was affordable since the restaurant chain was seen as an expensive fast food joint - which cut into the sales of Pizza Hut.

Cut to the present. Vijay Raaz and Zayed Khan jointly promoting a Rs 50 pizza in the latest Pizza Hut ad. When Raaz, representing the quintessential common man, and Khan, a potent symbol of the upper class, are seen sharing a pizza that costs as little as Rs 50, Pizza Hut is very serious about plucking out that thorn of price perception.

Let's look at the latest Pizza Hut three-ad campaign very quickly, before we investigate the reasons for the current communication strategy.

As a prelude to the main campaign, JWT Delhi first came out with two teaser ads. In one, Raaz finds himself stranded in the midst of a traffic jam, and in the second, suffering the heat because of power cut. Raaz has no faith in the system. The trail of cars caught in the traffic snarl will stretch for 50 miles; power cuts will continue for 50 hours; problems in India will remain status quo. So believes the cynical Raaz. But Khan challenges that the winds of change are here, and lays a wager, saying - if his friend disagrees then "...lagi pachaas ki." Both the teaser ads end with the refrain "Badal badal, badal jayega..." (things will change).

In the main ad, Khan takes his friend Raaz to the Pizza Hut outlet. Raaz of course finds not a spot of change in the outlet.

"Kya badla, huh? Wohi mast mahole, wohi haste khelte log," Raaz asks his friend, and is desperate to make an exit.

Khan makes Raaz to take a seat, takes out a Rs 50 bill and lands a pizza (a veg pizza to be precise, which incidentally is the most popular item at Pizza Hut) on his table. Raaz, reluctantly, takes a bite and much to his surprise, likes it. Cool dude Khan sitting across, urges him that it is time that he changed too. Khan replaces Raaz's thick black rimmed spectacles with hip looking sunglasses. The jingle ends the message with "Sirf pachaas mein Pan pizza."

The three-ad campaign is the product of a single point brief -- change the price perception in the mind of the potential consumer.

"People perceive Pizza Hut as an expensive restaurant and hence, by extension, they think they cannot afford the pizzas. We wanted to change that perception," says Pankaj Batra, director marketing, Indian Subcontinent, Yum! Restaurants International.

Linked to the price perception issue, was the comfort level of the potential customer. "Because the place is unaffordable, one tends to think the place may be unwelcoming too," explains Batra. "So our idea was to recruit more people for the Pizza Hut experience by emphasizing on the warm ambiance of the Pizza Hut outlet ...," says Alok Lall, vice-president, JWT, Delhi.

"With the price point barrier, there was also the issue of expanding the consumer base. The SEC A forms just a minuscule of the population. In order to increase the number of footfalls, we are targeting the common man. However, what we found out was, while people were aware of the brand Pizza Hut, there was a certain inhibition in going to the outlet. That too had to change," Batra adds.

From this two-fold marketing objective emerged the creative. The price factor was tackled by driving home the point that a pizza at Pizza Hut is not that expensive, and, in fact, is actually pretty affordable. Interestingly, the script revolves around the number 50 to establish the association of the Pan pizza with Pizza Hut.

And, delivering the message of affordability is the ambassador of the common people - Vijay Raaz. "Raaz, through his various roles in films, has become identifiable with the masses…. he is a person they connect with...," points out Lall.

And, like the common belief among the masses that nothing can really change in this country, Raaz too is a cynic.

Also making a connection with the masses is the language. "The idea was to make the sound familiar…so it's deliberately colloquial," Lall explains.

Khan, who plays an optimist in the ad, balances the communication approach. The point is: Pizza Hut is, after all, a hangout joint for the youth as well. If Raaz appeals to the common man and dispels the initial hesitation of trying a pizza at the outlet, then Khan, by virtue of his association with Pizza Hut, does the tight-rope balance of preserving the youthfulness of the place.

"Zayed is a perfect fit for Pizza Hut's brand ambassadorship. The ultimate youth icon, Zayed is a representative of youthfulness, energy and fun. This is in line with the brand personality of being fun and friendly, while offering the promise of the good times over great pizzas," Batra pitches in.

For Pizza Hut, brand communications like these targeted at the great Indian middle-class are extremely crucial for increasing future revenues. At stake is the restaurant chain's plans to scale up its presence to over 100 restaurants by 2004-end from the present 73 restaurants across 19 cities. © 2004 agencyfaqs!