Client
Pizza Hut
Office
Malaysia
Project
From Virtual Game Food to Real Life Adventure
Client Challenge
Pizza and video games are an iconic duo. But in Malaysia, the pair needed a little encouragement. Pizza Hut put us on the task, challenging us to win over a new generation of pizza-loving gamers. Yet while in-game content had already proven to be a successful strategy, the challenge remained to execute it without forcing a brand connection and alienating the very audiences we wanted to attract.
The biggest games transcend their virtual worlds, finding traction in real world spaces amongst passionate fans who crave deeper immersion. To make Pizza Hut a vehicle for that immersion, we partnered with the wildly popular game, Genshin Impact, capitalizing on its characters’ preexisting love of pizza. We brought the game’s iconic mushroom pizza to life at Pizza Hut, maintaining its in-game connection by attributing it to fan-favorite chef character, Xiangling. The new pizza drop was announced via an original web comic made by a digital artist from Malaysia’s Genshin community, drawing in excited players with the prospect of new content. Social extensions featuring a real life Xiangling, exclusive Xiangling merchandise and an appearance at the biggest event for gamers and anime fans in Malaysia helped cement our partnership in tangible ways players would never forget. Pizza Hut got its share of the real-life impact too, enjoying a 10% lift in daily sales and a 104% increase in new users. This campaign was a valuable reminder that audience passions are the name of the game, and offering new ways to experience them will always lead to a win.