Wow Everyday Value one of our boldest and strategic moves: Prashant Gaur, Pizza Hut

In a major strategic move, Pizza Hut will be announcing the launch of Wow Everyday Value, which will see the brand offering its pan pizzas at a price point starting at Rs 99. 

In a chat with exchange4media, Prashant Gaur, Chief Brand and Customer Officer, Pizza Hut India Subcontinent, Yum! Brands, spoke about its differentiated communication strategy of focusing on light-hearted and clutter-breaking advertising. 

Excerpts:

Tell us about the new Pizza Hut campaign and the business strategic move with Pan Pizza at Rs 99? What was the thought behind such a move?
Wow Everyday Value is one of our boldest and most strategic moves to give customers wider access to our entire Pan Pizza range at very attractive price points, starting at Rs 99. 

Ever since Pizza Hut entered India, customers have consistently given us a lot of credit for serving the tastiest pizzas and giving them a great experience. No surprises that we have been adjudged as the Most Trusted Brand by a reputed media house for the 13th time in a row.

With changing times, the needs of consumers have also changed - with pizzas evolving from being just a special occasion treat to an everyday home meal replacement. Of late, we have witnessed a huge demand for our pan pizzas that are available at an attractive value. Given that customers are at the centre of everything we do, rolling out a new value programme was the next logical step for us.

We have always taken pride in serving the best pizzas to our customers and are now making the tastiest pan pizzas accessible to a much wider audience.

What are the advertising and marketing initiatives and marketing strategies that Pizza Hut is undertaking for the new campaign?
We are launching a high-voltage TV and digital campaign around Wow Everyday Value, highlighting the superlative taste of Pizza Hut pan pizzas at amazing prices. On TV, our advertising campaign has been timed strategically to release during IPL from April 11 so that customers can catch the TVC during the matches. 

On Digital, we will be aggressively pushing out the communication on Social, Display, OTT platforms and Video platforms, while also focusing on programmatic and search optimization. We are also planning a range of innovative digital promotions to create a buzz and spur conversations around the film amongst netizens.

We are targeting various genres that are known to have a high affinity towards our brand, such as, cricket, e-commerce, food, entertainment and news amongst others.

What and how much would be the marketing and digital spends to position the new campaign?
This is possibly the biggest and boldest campaign for us till now. It also marks a milestone for the brand, as we are introducing the Rs 99 price point, which is a first for Pizza Hut India. This is also the first time that digital will be the lead medium followed by TV.

Who are the target consumers? Will it be launched only in India? 
Through Wow Everyday Value, we are targeting consumers who are looking for everyday meal options at great value, without compromising on taste or quality. We are also expecting the new pricing construct to open up a whole new segment of first-time customers, who will now be able to try and indulge in the tastiest Pizza Hut pan pizzas.

With the Indian Premier League going on, how has the company decided to brand its new campaign? 
As I mentioned earlier, our advertising campaign has been timed strategically to release during IPL and customers can catch the TVC during matches, starting April 11. 

What is the thought behind the character Agent Pizza? What kind of growth is the company anticipating in terms of their comparative sales and transactions?
Agent Pizza is a distinctive creative device that will grab a lot of eyeballs and help us deliver our core message in a very interesting way. The sole purpose of Agent Pizza’s existence is to ensure that every pizza lover in the country gets only the tastiest pizzas from Pizza Hut, at a very attractive value. We are confident that this character will make the film stand out from the rest. 

What is in store for pizza lovers from Pizza Hut in the future? 
First and foremost, all pizza lovers can expect to continue enjoying our pan pizzas which are always the ‘Tastiest and Freshest’, made with fresh dough and top quality ingredients. With Wow Everyday Value, they can look forward to great value for money as well. On the variety front, they will have a greater choice, as we have already expanded our menu with new Pan Pizzas in the Rs 99 price band, and three new beverages.

Convenience for customers is another major focus for us, given the fast-paced lifestyle of our millennial audiences. Keeping that in mind, we pioneered the Fast-Casual Delco (FCD) concept in India, which offers a seamless integration of dine-in, takeaway and delivery channels, all under one roof. We recently upgraded all our digi-tech assets, including the website, m-site and mobile app, for a more seamless experience. We also launched a Rider Tracking Feature across all our digital ordering platforms, for the ease of our customers. 

The endeavour is to elevate the overall experience of the customers, while interacting with the brand across various touchpoints. This will continue this year as well. 

What are the plans to enhance the company and to enhance their relationship with their franchisees?
On the business front, we have been witnessing an explosive growth in India for several quarters now. The brand has been steadily expanding its physical store footprint and recently launched its 500th physical store in the Indian Subcontinent. Pizza Hut also pioneered the Fast-Casual Delco (FCD) concept in India, which offers a seamless integration of dine-in, takeaway and delivery channels, all under one roof. The company recently upgraded all its digi-tech assets including the website, m-site and mobile app. These initiatives have enabled the brand and our franchisee partners to deliver on the promise of providing the easiest, fastest and tastiest pizza experience to consumers in India. As a result, Pizza Hut has been voted the most trusted brand in India for the 13th time in a row (as per a reputed media house) and was awarded the prestigious EFFIE Gold in the Foods and Confectionery category in 2018 for its outstanding consumer-centric performance. 
 
Pizza Hut’s recent digital campaign which took a humor-based content on roll to deliver and touch the chord with the millennials. The new campaign is based on what idea and why? What kind of prep was done to launch the digital content for the new pan pizza campaign to reach the audience? 
 
We are a fun brand, focused on the youth, who have a penchant for light-hearted content. Therefore, humour has been the underlying theme in all our campaigns, including the last one,and will continue for future campaigns as well. 
 
In keeping with our differentiated content strategy, the idea behind the new campaign was to come up with a creative rendition of taste and value, in a very fun and distinctive manner. Since the plan was to launch during IPL, we had the added challenge of coming up with unique and path-breakingroutes for breaking the clutter and ensuring high customer recall. 
 
We also shared several key consumer insights with Ogilvy (creative partners). For example, during several customer interactions on the category, it emerged that people were having to compromise on taste for deals or value offers. This made us realize that there was a huge need for pizzas that are superior in taste, while also offering great value. This proved to be a major motivation behind launching a potent and unbeatable value proposition that customers want.  
 
We also followed trends when it comes to customers’ content-consumption habits and saw that TV and digital was the best combination for us to reach young audiences, for whom light-hearted video content was a clear winner. 
 
Several brainstorms later, here we are with the Wow Everyday Value campaign and the introduction of ‘Agent Pizza’ as a unique creative device to bring the campaign message of ‘Taste’ and ‘Value’ alive in a fun, distinctive and memorable way. 
 
Has Pizza Hut changed its strategy to lead from front when it comes to digital advertising and branding in terms of connecting to the millennials? 
 
We are definitely on a path to become a brand which is known for its fun and clutter-breaking content, which is very distinctive and does not adhere to the norms of conventional category advertising. 
 
Digital is the medium that millennials have the most propensity towards, for consuming content. Therefore, aggressive digital advertising and intensive use of social media platforms has been our core marketing strategy for some time now, and will continue to get bolstered with future campaigns to engage audiences like never before. 
 
Also, ‘Taste’ is the biggest driver in our category, especially for millennials who have immense choice of food options today. As a brand, we take pride in serving the freshest and tastiest pizzas to all pizza lovers in the country. Therefore, our communication is also focused on highlighting the superlative taste of Pizza Hut Pan Pizzas. So, this time we are bringing ‘Agent Pizza’, who is a propagator of the ‘Tastiest pizzas at a great price’. The brand had earlier launched a fun and light-hearted digital film, highlighting the ‘aroma’ of Pizza Hut’s pan pizzas, that precedes their unmatched ‘taste’, as the ultimate pull factor. And of course, people appreciated our ‘It’s Time to Switch’ campaign, featuring actor Abhay Deol and his gang of puppets. That campaign too, highlighted the superior ‘Taste’ that sets Pizza Hut Pan Pizzas apart from every other brand. It was for the first time that a puppet was used in a TV commercial by any QSR brand in the country. 
 
So, our target audience can look forward to many more fun and distinctive films going forward, that will tickle both their taste buds and their funny bone.
 
Will Pizza Hut be focusing on their own delivery channels? If yes, how? 
 
Delivery is a strategic focus area for us, and we expect it to be a key driver of business growth in 2019. With this aim, we have invested significantly in all our online assets to ensure that they are the best in class and equipped with future-ready delivery capabilities. 
 
We also introduced various initiatives to further enhance the delivery experience for consumers. The most recent one being the launch of rider-tracking feature across our digital ordering platforms. We launched the feature as a solution based on key behavioral findings of the consumer base, majority of whom are tech-savvy, on-the-go millennials. The findings have shown that consumers choose brands which adapt to their lifestyle, understand their preferences and enable them to take charge. 

Pan Pizzas are at the core of our brand’s identity and therefore WOW Everyday Value has been designed as a truly versatile offering, that cuts across all barriers of channel, serving sizes or restrictions based on a particular day, time band or coupon.