Pizza Hut spices up its recipes with WAX Interactive

VIP or "Very Individual Pizza" is the name of the contest launched by Pizza Hut in Belgium in January 2015. This partnership with the WAX Interactive agency in Ghent focuses on virality, imagination and sharing. Each person can put forward their customised pizza recipe and put it to a vote to win a TOYOTA AYGO and marketing for their pizza across all the Pizza Hut restaurants in Belgium this summer!

Listen to the voice of your customers

Whether you like 4-cheese, Savoyard, Regina or typically Margherita, pizza - one of the most consumed foods in the world - is a family and party product to be shared. And who better to talk about and promote these famous "Pizze" than those who consume them?That is what Pizza Hut has chosen to do in 2015. This year the Texas brand's stated objective is to work with its customers to encourage competition, get them to use their imagination to interact better, and highlight their tastes which are as diverse as they are varied. They are now the brand's advocates!

Creativity, virality and technical expertise: the WAX Interactive method

Following an invitation to tender at the end of 2014, and with the aim of launching a communications campaign based around a pizza contest at the beginning of 2015, WAX Interactive Belgium was chosen by Pizza Hut to successfully complete this project. The WAX Interactive experts gave Pizza Hut a complete solution which is both technical and creative. They also offered to develop the project in a more in-depth way to get the best benefits, both in terms of image and virality with the stated goal of boosting sales.

Chantal Hanot, Pizza Hut France & Belgium Marketing Director, says: "WAX Interactive is the agency which has been the most creative. In addition to its technical solutions, it is also the agency which has gone furthest in seeing the opportunities of an initiative like this in terms of boosting the number of fans with a dedicated website, videos, and thus playing a role in terms of virality."
 

The Holy Grail: Marketing for the winner's pizza during the summer of 2015

The WAX Interactive teams assisted Pizza Hut in developing the basic concept so that social networks and the video content were an integral part of the contest. The contest will call on the imagination of all Belgians and will take place in 3 stages:

1. Everyone can create a unique pizza recipe, submit it online via the dedicated website, and then get votes.
2. The creators of the 10 recipes which get the most votes will be invited to a Masterclass during which they can refine their ideas thanks to tips and tricks from Pizza Hut's own chefs. Film-portraits and a dedicated page on the contest website will spotlight the 10 amateur chefs picked.
3. All the pizzas will be put to a vote in the last stage. A panel of top chefs on the one hand and the general public voting by text on the other hand will decide the winning pizza. Its inventor will win a car as well as marketing for its pizza in Belgium over the summer period.

Chantal Hanot adds: "This concept is an excellent way to recruit fans and enrich our CRM. In addition, the WAX Interactive teams have demonstrated impeccable responsiveness and availability within a very tight time frame to deliver a website a week before deadlines and without any bugs."
 

A simple and effective marketing mechanism

The 3rd stage of the contest has just been launched, but the results are already convincing. On the first day in January more than 8000 visitors visited the dedicated website. Consequently between 500 and 1000 new daily visits from the curious and food lovers discovered the original recipes put forward by their compatriots.The picture is clear: giving your opinion, voting, testing - these key ingredients guaranteed a high take-up rate from the very beginning of the contest. Consequently more than 3000 pizza recipes have been submitted for voting.So who will be the big winner? We will find out on 13 April.

Pieter-Jan Priem, WAX Interactive Belgium Account Manager: "We are delighted by the success of this highly invigorating project which demonstrates WAX Interactive's expertise and creativity. Feedback has exceeded our initial objectives and highlights the quality of our partnership with Pizza Hut."