Pizza Hut, What The Heck Were You Thinking?

AdAge points us to a new 'viral' that Pizza Hut uploaded to YouTube, and now has a couple of hundred thousand views.

Note: I replaced the video, per Pizza Hut's request (what?!?!) with this lovely clip of Gary Busey.

Wow. This may be the most insensitive, untimely, poorly-thought-out initiative I've seen in a long time. If Pizza Hut were a person, I'd say it was a jerk.

Lets see...anger mom & pop pizza places (yes, in this economy), and bring in the mass-produced bastardization of their bread and butter to rub in their face. Yeah. That makes me feel better about Pizza Hut. It's one thing to call out your competition if they are another chain. It's another to insult small businesses.

My advice? Next time, stop trying to make a 'viral' with the goal of getting views, and instead, focus on creating content that actually builds your brand -- or at least makes it look good.

This video deserves to get - er - panned.

Comments

[Victor]

Someone must want Pizza Hut to die. There's no other way to explain that. Apart from everything you mentioned, the fact that they hired two complete tools to play the 'Average Joes' with camera phones... ugh. A fail this epic I haven't seen in a long, long time.

[Cory O'Brien]

Wow, attacking the mom and pop pizza places with a 'viral' ad is brutal! If anything, they should have at least played fair and ordered the pizza to a rival chain. Maybe deliver them to a Dominoes?

This commercial is like Starbucks doing a viral ad in which they stand outside of mom and pop coffee shops and sell coffee. Sure, people want to watch to see what happens, but is being a bully the way that you want people to see your brand?

[windo]

i'm telling all my bros to never by PH ever again. this is so eff'n WEAK! a-hole mentality picking on the little shops.

what's sad is that the CMO will look at this as a success cuz of the # of views and the overall "positive" comments. this makes me mad. when are brands gonna get over the notion that you need to shock/awe us with stupidity to get attention?

[dkmann]

Viral? BS. If there is a agency behind this they need to be outed so everyone knows who is behind this lame effort. Pizza Hut should also fess up and apologize. Oh and stop having your own people give it positive comments- hacks.

[MBS]

Great so Pizza Hut is a company that wants to insult small business owners. That's a smart position to take.

Is it supposed to be funny? Hmmmm. Like "Hey, Bob, I know you're my neighbour and all but I thought I'd #&*^ your wife on your kitchen table. She was great."

So funny.

[El Gaffney]

Until today, Pizza Hut was most strongly associated with achievement + rewards and family + friends time through its "Book It" program. It was a caring community-conscious company (apologies for alliteration). Now, it's like the puppy who lost its way.

[michael miraflor]

VIRAL FAIL.

whatever agency came up with this idea has just thrown Pizza Hut under the bus. this wasn't so much cringe-worthy (a la the Subway "fist bump" pitch fiasco) as it was maddening. i don't think i'll buying PH any time soon b/c of this video.

[Brian Flatow]

Not Funny! Not even close. Made me mad to watch it. Is everyone at Pizza Hut as obnoxious as those two losers?

[Lance Porter]

Okay, who greenlit this piece of garbage? The BK ads outside corporate behemoth McDonald's work to a certain extent. But to pick on small businesses? I can't understand it. How lame. Comparative advertising at its worst. All risk and no reward.

[HighJive]

Not even convinced the video “picks on” small businesses. The crazy part is, everyone knows Pizza Hut pizza cannot compare to pizza joint pizza. This is a poorly-conceived execution. It might have made some sense to order pizza at a “bad food” scenario (e.g., a vegan party or mother-in-law’s gathering). But ordering shitty Pizza Hut in a pizza joint? Dumb.

[Mo P]

When I saw the AdAge coverage I was so confused. I can't imagine who would forward this or watch more than once. This all seems very fishy to me. It's neither funny nor entertaining. Did AdAge cover this so we would cry 'FAIL'? Audit please.

[Mike McGrath]

Suffice to say that they missed their mark… Maybe it could of worked with a bit more thought and better creative.

WOnder what they will do now? Try to reel it back in?

On a positive note, good effort Pizza Hut for taking a risk. (Better luck next time)…

[Scott Hannan]

So not funny, so stupid, so not going to make anyone buy anything from them...thought it was funny though that Google showed me a Dominos ad in the overlay :-)

[bg]

This is the kind of stunt Jackass would try. Works in that context because they’re always messing with people. As pizza vids go, even the Tom Greene one works better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm55ZIc9M0o

But such a simple fix: he should’ve gone to a Domino’s and done it. (Yes, they actually have chairs there.)

Even with the down and dirty video work, this feels too edited. The original drive-up rapper vids that got ripped off by Taco Bell had the right feel. One camera. Spontaneous and loosely scripted.

[bg]

(Oh, I’m sorry, did I say ripped off? I meant, ‘inspired by’.) ;-p

[Beau Brewer]

Hi Ian (and All),

I wrote the email below privately to Ian and he suggested that I post it on the blog:

Hi Ian,

I'm sorry that you didn't appreciate the video that Pizza Hut did through Zadby. Judging from your post, I don't think that I'll change your mind, but I thought I'd drop you a quick note just to introduce myself and offer some perspective on what the video is and what the video isn't.

Zadby isn't an ad agency and Pizza Hut didn't use us as such. We're a marketplace for brand integration in online video. Our videos aren't (usually) produced entirely about the brand or to the brand's precise specifications. The videos are entertainment, made by popular online video producers--the kind of YouTube producers who attract hundreds of thousands or millions of viewers to every video they post. The brand gets integration into this popular entertainment in the same way that Coke pays American Idol to have a Coke cup in front of their judges.

You can argue against brand integration or product placement as a marketing tool--a lot of companies don't find it appropriate for their brand. But we believe that this form of marketing is growing (40% CAGR over the last 5 years) because of the changing way we are consuming media and that smart brand marketers will embrace the trend rather than fight it. And there is some pretty solid evidence (from Nielsen Media Research and Psychology and Marketing) that supports the notion that integration in enjoyable programs can move the needle just as effectively (or even more so) than traditional advertisements.

As for being dismissive of small business owners, that certainly wasn't anyone's intent (Pizza Hut, Zadby, Mediocre Films). I know that the CEO of Mediocre Films is personal friends with at least one of the business owners and everyone involved signed appearance releases so they must not have considered Pizza Hut a competitor (and vice versa I would suspect). I'm a small business owner, so I certainly don't want to denigrate the incredible hard work it takes to create and run any kind of business.

As I said at the top, I don't think that I'm going to convince you. But I hope that I've shed some light on why this video isn't brilliantly crafted to support marketing messages in the way that a 30-second spot developed by an agency would be. It's entertainment, and if audience response is any measure, it functions well in that regard. I strongly suspect that among Pizza Hut's target demographic, the video also helps Pizza Hut achieve its branding objectives.

Thank you,
Beau Brewer
General Manager, Zadby

[Stephanie Fierman]

Zadby's response is amazing to me as it either deliberately or accidentally misses the entire point... then turns the situation into a promotion for "brand integration in online video."

No one has commented on the theoretical value of brand integration online. The strong reaction is based on a brand creating a message(in any media) so misguided that it is not only ineffective but offensive, as well.

[Adam Broitman]

the worst part is it is not even funny!

[Dave Raffaele]

I guess I don't see what the big deal is. They are messing with pizza guys. Since when has that become wrong? Since when have pizza guys become off limit? They just picked the wrong 2 dopes to do it.

Did I miss something besides the joke? I am more insulted that PH thought this was funny enough to be posted and that people actually enjoy their pizza. :)

[Kelly]

I agree with Broitman, not just because he's bald, but because it's NOT funny and it's mean spirited.