Campaign Imminent: Pizza Hut adds new product to menu after hiring new PR AOR (Score 48)

Sales Lead: Pizza Hut (PH) just launched a limited-edition grilled sirloin steak menu option.

• The brand's leaders attribute a recent same-store sales increase (8%), its strongest results in two years, to new products such as its new melt sandwiches and big NY pizza.
• PH has also ramped up its partnerships with third-party aggregators that help with delivery services.
• The brand will likely:
  • Launch a new campaign promoting the new product
  • Shift strategy
  • Ramp up spend more
  • Seek additional new agency partners following a recent PR agency appointment.
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Gen-Z and millennials with a male skew
  • Its ads also target Spanish-speaking audiences

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: PH has spent approximately $45.5m on national TV commercials YTD, down 25% from the approximately $60.3m spent by this point last year.
  • Last year: In 2022, the brand spent around $131.4m on this channel after having spent barely less, around $131.3m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: PH's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NFL Football, College Basketball, NBA Basketball, SportsCenter, and the Super Bowl LVII Immediate Pregame.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, the brand has allocated roughly $13.7m toward digital ads, up slightly (3%) from the roughly $13.3m allocated within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: PH has earned ~1.6b digital impressions YTD via Instagram (33%), Facebook (29%), YouTube (22%), desktop video (8%), desktop display (5%), and mobile display (3%) ads.
  • Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2022 spend of $45.3m reached 42% more than that of $31.9m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The brand utilizes radio, local broadcast, OOH, digital, and Google Ads.
  • PH sponsors podcasts such as Last Podcast On The Left, My Brother, My Brother and Me, The Daily Zeitgeist, and Spout Lore.
  • As evident from the video above, PH also launches Spanish commercials.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: If you haven't yet done so, reach out to see if PH conducts digital analytics, creative, media, multicultural, social media management, influencer, and/or reviews following its recent appointment of PR AOR Alison Brod.
• Current agency roster:
  • Alison Brod: (April 2023)
  • GSD&M: Creative AOR
  • Deloitte Digital: Digital AOR
  • Spark Foundry: Media agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.