It's Melts Time
Pizza Hut is a global brand that is familiar to people around the world. They are also the first Pizza brand to open a restaurant in Singapore in 1981 and is a household favourite especially amongst the older generation of Singaporeans.
In 2023, Pizza Hut Singapore launched a new permanent product – Pizza Hut Melts. The product was first introduced in 2022 in the USA, and was very well-received which led to further launches in markets across the globe, before making its way to Asia. The Client’s brief was to leverage the product to redefine the brand, moving away from being an occasional treat to a modern everyday staple. The launch of the product was a further step to expand market size for the brand, reaching out to Gen Z and Millennials.
The Challenge:
Interestingly the brand affinity for Pizza Hut in Singapore is stronger with the older generation of Singaporeans due to its history. With the influx of food options and brands clamouring for attention amongst the Gen Z and Millennials, would we be able to gain their attention and build brand connection to try the product?
The Solution:
Through research conducted by TEAM LEWIS, we learned that our target audience of Gen Z and Millennials were plagued with much higher levels of social anxiety due to a variety of factors, including competition in school, work and even while gaming.
We found that almost 70% of Gen Z suffer from anxiety and depression, whilst 38% of Millennials experiences stress all or most of the time. With that in mind, we wanted to introduce Pizza Hut Melts as a disruptor – breaking the cycle of unwanted pressure to identify with and relate to a new generation of Singaporeans.
The Strategy:
With this insight, we built our overarching concept – “Taste the Calm in Chaos” – and a creative campaign that aimed to remind our target audiences that there was more to life than the stresses we deal with and a reminder that all of us deserve a mental wellness break amidst our daily grind.
On channel strategy, instead of the traditional TVC approach, we went for a digital led approach where the campaign was created for social and digital platforms, complemented by targeted OOH placements. This matched the trends of social media consumption, emphasising greatly on visual elements to accommodate a growing sound-off audience.
The Execution:
TEAM LEWIS created three individual 22s videos with three key target audiences in mind, the Student, Salaryman and Gamer. This allowed us to target specific segments of our key markets and ensuring that our message stayed relevant to the wider audience group. Accompanying the campaign are key visuals featuring the key characters for OOH and digital adaptations.
The campaign tagline played on the concept of “It’s Melts Time” to drive home the value proposition of “Me Time”. In each piece of content, the protagonist is featured in a stressful situation that comes to a resolve as Pizza Hut Melts melt away all the chaos and stress.
As a 360 campaign, PR and influencer engagement helped to further amplify the buzz and the team also hit the streets with the product for taste tests with consumers.
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Key Results:
In reaching out to the right audience groups with a relevant content and channel strategy we saw sales exceeding forecasted figures by 400% during the launch month.
The product was sold out within the first 2 weeks of launch.
In addition to reach and impressions secured through organic and paid digital content, we further amplified the buzz via earned media with some 60 pieces of media and social content by key media and Influencers in the launch month.