The most sincere apology "parchment-baked pasta."

Pizza Hut

Cleverly leverage existing social buzz “offending Italians” and creatively apologize to trigger a second wave of social buzz and attract early adopters.

Challenge

Introducing new Italian cuisine to attract consumers.

Pizza Hut launched a new product, parchment-baked tube pasta, however in a competitive market, how will they establish an authentic Italian cuisine image in consumers' hearts?

Solution

"Apologies to Italians!" The pasta introduced is a truly authentic Italian dish!

We noticed each Pizza Hut Taiwan's new creative pizza launch stirs debate on the creative pizza toppings offending Italians. So, we decided to leverage the existing social buzz and establish "apologies to Italians" as our communication theme. We arranged a press conference and a series of events, inviting Taiwan Pizza Hut's MD to apologize to Italians, which successfully captured consumers' attention and focus on authentic Italian cuisine.

Results

The most creative apology successfully creating social buzz and drive new product sales.

The campaign successfully created social volume and anticipation. Netizens called it the most sincere apology! Sales volume increased 43% compared with the same period last year, achieving a 143% growth in sales revenue.