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- [00:07]
A
This is Nornasir for AdTech Unfiltered. We've lined up a few brand centered episodes and we're kicking things off with a Pizza brand we all know. Pizza Hut. While Pizza Hut may be one of the world's most recognized brands, recognition alone doesn't drive growth. In a category where competitors outspend you. Consumer expectations on price haven't changed in decades and loyalty is harder to earn than ever before. Growth demands a different playbook. On this episode of Ad Tech Unfiltered, I'm joined by Ashley Travis, head of growth marketing at Pizza Hut, who shares how she's rethinking loyalty, digital experiences, audience strategy and brand nostalgia to fuel Pizza Hut's next chapter. From their Hut Rewards loyalty program to growth metrics that actually matter. This conversation is packed with lessons for every modern marketer. Let's get to the episode.
- [00:52]
B
Ashley, there's a lot of exciting things happening at Pizza Hut, as you are well aware and I have a long legacy of pizza consumption and Pizza Hut consumption. So excited to chat with you about it more today.
- [01:03]
C
Happy to hear that.
- [01:04]
B
So let's start off with the basics. I want to learn more about what's going on with growth marketing, specifically at Pizza Hut. But what does growth marketing and leading growth marketing look like for you?
- [01:16]
C
Yeah, I mean the way that we are thinking about growth marketing is how are we going to enter this next phase of growth for Pizza Hut? Where are we going to see that growth come from outside of what we would typically expect? So for example, my focus over the past couple of years has been around CRM and loyalty and rebuilding that relaunching the Hut Rewards program, really leaning into the aggregator or the Marketplace space with DoorDash and Uber Eats and how we revisit our strategy there to really accelerate growth in that space and right size our share of market and then starting to build a channel management organization and a Martech operations organization to execute a lot of the strategy and start to do more analytics and diagnosis between carry out delivery offline online to really understand where we are can continue to build that growth roadmap for years to come.
- [02:22]
B
So this isn't just a unique challenge for Pizza Hut, but Pizza Hut is competing in a very crowded category for advertising and just in general for marketing as well. When consumers have dozens of food options out there, how do you get them to think about the Pizza Hut brand versus anything else that's immediately available?
- [02:40]
C
Yeah, I mean the honest truth is from a media standpoint, we are outspent by our number one competitor by at least four times. And so a media strategy alone is not going to help us break through. Amazing Creative is not going to help us break through in a commoditized category where our competition is outspending us by so much. So we have to think more strategically about the layers of the business. How do we continue to accelerate frequency with our existing active rewards members? For example, how do we start to leverage media in new and different ways to bring light customers or new customers into the brand? How do we start to think about value and innovation and what role that those play? And so we're thinking about how we deliver growth holistically as opposed to a more traditional QSR lens. So we have to take a different approach. And internally, I like to say, okay, when the competition zigs, we'll zag. And so that's a new strategy that we're starting to employ to really accelerate the momentum that we're seeing in the business.
- [03:51]
B
Ashley, you mentioned the hot rewards program. The insinuation is that repeat customer loyalty is really critical. And you also said that there are essentially limited resources, as there is for any brand out there. What is, to the extent that you can speak about it, the split between prioritizing the loyalty base versus leaning into acquiring new customers. So the, you know, the existing customer versus the new customer.
- [04:14]
C
Yeah, it's a constant challenge in marketing that you have to find a healthy balance for because you don't want to ignore your active customers. They're the ones driving your business today. But you always want to acquire new customers. The reality is in this attention economy, it's very hard to get new customers into the brand. And, you know, also, how do you define a new customer? Because there are very few people I've met in my life that have not had Pizza Hut at some point in their life. So for Pizza Hut, it's about reigniting that passion and the memory structures that they have. For Pizza Hut to have them reconsider us again, and then for our existing customers, it's making sure that we are consistent, that we are building trust and that we are a brand brand and a food option that they can always rely on and really focusing on. Are we delivering them value? Are we delivering them convenience? And then are we delivering them taste and quality that they can rely on?
- [05:17]
B
Value has become one of the biggest battlegrounds in quick service restaurants in general. Also, in the pizza category, how do you compete on value without training consumers to only engage when there's discounts or promotions?
- [05:30]
C
It's so hard. So one of my favorite Anecdotes to share on the pizza category specifically is if you've seen the movie Home Alone. Most people have seen the movie Home Alone. And there is a scene at the beginning of the movie when the pizza delivery Guy is delivering 10 pizzas before they leave on their trip. And the uncle, you know, stingy Uncle Frank is like, oh, who's going to pay for the pizza? How much is it? And 122, 50. And Uncle Frank goes, 10 pizzas times 12 bucks. The reality is, is our competition has set the base expected price for pizza at $10. So we are the only category that I can think of where the expected price of our pizza, of our product has gone down by $2 by 20% in the past 30 years. But yet cost of goods has gone up, labor has gone up and everything has gone up. So our margins are so much tighter than a lot of the rest of the industry. And so it becomes very difficult to compete on value. So we have to start thinking of value in other ways in addition to monetary value. How are we providing our customers with experiences? How are we providing our customers with service and really think about holistic value beyond just a price point to compete on?
- [06:55]
B
It's actually so wild that you bring up that point because that is something I recently observed. Obviously I knew we were going to be chatting soon and I was just doing some investigation into pizza in general, especially some of the national chains and the value segment, seeing prices that I recall from high school still being active today.
- [07:12]
C
Yeah.
- [07:12]
B
Is so unique to this category.
- [07:14]
C
Yes.
- [07:15]
B
And I also think it definitely says something about who it is that's shopping or rather who's the customer for pizza. They have a very value based expectation.
- [07:23]
C
They do, they really do. And they, they don't hold that same expectation if you're going to your local pizzeria, for example, in your neighborhood. But for QSR Pizza that they are looking for a quick solution for and getting it delivered, they have a very different expectation.
- [07:40]
B
A part of the pie is also thinking about the digital ordering and what that experience is like and making it as turnkey as possible. How has Pizza Hut really leaned into the digital ecosystem to become growth vehicle for the business?
- [07:56]
C
Yeah, we are, I would say, still in the midst of our evolution there. Last year we launched a brand new app and it is just such a better ordering experience. This year in March, we launched enhancements to that app as part of our relaunch of Hut Rewards. And so we're just continuing to optimize that experience and we do a lot of Customer research on understanding ordering behavior. How can we reduce friction? How can we make it easier? How do we understand the usage occasions in which customers are ordering pizza to make it easier for them to find solutions? And so it will be a continuous evolution as we adapt to what we're hearing from customers and changing customer landscape.
- [08:39]
B
I want to reach for a second into your history as a marketer who obviously has had a lot of experience with rewards. In your history prior to Pizza Hut, you worked with a very successful rewards program. You were at Starbucks for a nice period of time. And Starbucks probably has one of the most globally renowned loyalty programs and really came to the market first in bringing success to what that program looked like? What kinds of learnings did you bring over from your time there and how has that translated into at least some of the thoughts and ideas that you brought over to Pizza Hut?
- [09:10]
C
When I was at Starbucks is when we relaunched the Starbucks rewards program. So I was part of the team that relaunched the program and part of the team that launched the ability to order ahead. So that was really a interesting time because none of the QSRs had launched order ahead. And so I remember having conversations with the product team where they were, they were asking me, you know, we have to put the entire menu on the app. Well, marketing, you guys know the menu. Can you help us with that? And just like right now it sounds obvious because it's just so common, but back then, the idea of having to translate your entire menu for an app ordering experience was extremely challenging. And we were in, we had no reference point except for, you know, Amazon, but it was a really exciting time because it almost felt like we were in a startup kind of mentality within the organization. And as we were relaunching the Starbucks rewards program, my team really started really getting interested in personalization and gamification and how can we introduce experiences that drive frequency, but also drive engagement and love for the brand beyond just a sales tactic? And so we did a lot of our own research on organizational behavior, psychology. I've brought those learnings to Pizza Hut and how we are approaching Hut Rewards and how we are rethinking and reconsidering what loyalty means to customers. Because it's not just about earning points, it's about being surprised, getting new information, feeling like you are appreciated for spending your hard earned money at that brand. And that appreciation can take many different forms. And so I've carried those learnings with me throughout all of my marketing experience since then.
- [11:07]
B
Speaking of research, psychology and learnings, want to translate that over to some generational considerations, including the receptivity to Pizza Hut. For some younger generations, generations who don't have legacy, recollection and nostalgia around Pizza Hut, what does looking at Gen Z look like? How do you market to them without losing the customers who've loved Pizza Hut for years when you know you have to market to them differently than other generations?
- [11:33]
C
You know, we've been on a journey as a brand for the past several years when it comes to Gen Z. I think we've tried to go hard after Gen Z. We've tried to, but now we're really focused on like millennial families. And the research that we've done, it really shows it's not about a generation. It's not about Millennials versus Gen Z versus Gen Alpha versus Boomers. It's really about life stage and when customers need and want pizza as a solution for an everyday occasion, not just a special occasion. And what we find is that right now, the life stage that most Gen Zers are in it is that more special occasion, a pizza. And they're usually with groups of friends and it's just harder to influence the purchase decision. Whereas at millennial families, I'm a mom of two, boys eight and five, we eat a lot of pizza in our house. And so just the share of pizza eating occasions is more. But Gen Z is going to be in that life stage in the not so distant future. So what we're trying to do is how do we pull on those memory structures that millennials have with their experience with Pizza Hut from their past, but how do we bring it to life in a modern way that captures the love of 90s nostalgia that gen Z is actually seeking right now. So we're really well positioned right now to be able to, you know, speak to both demographics through this like, wave of nostalgia being cool. And we're really excited about some of the work we have coming up that's going to really harness that love for the brand of the past, but bring it to life in a way that's modern for today.
- [13:18]
B
I love the way that you frame who you're going after and why you're going after them from an audience segment standpoint, because just my experience outside of the realm of this conversation, outside of me working in the marketing advertising space, aligned with exactly what you said. I'm not a millennial mom. I am a millennial. I did look at value oriented pizza as a solution for a problem and that there are moments in which it just makes the most sense. And if you want to go with, you know, I live in Chicago, we've got a lot of very high end artisan pizza around. You start ordering high end artisan pizza for a family birthday party, children's birthday party, it's going to be $1,000.
- [13:55]
C
Exactly.
- [13:55]
B
And also the kids probably won't like it. So it really makes a lot of sense to turn to it, especially again, going back to the turnkey ness of it. Right. We're looking to rely on something that can fulfill a need and for that need to successfully be met, just really have some appreciation for that as from a strategy standpoint.
- [14:12]
C
Yeah. And I mean pizza can solve like so many different usage occasions and we, yes. While we know we other QSR pizzas are our competitors and even you know, your local pizzeria down the street, you could consider that a competitor. The reality is if you want an artisan pizza, it's not, oh, do I go to my local pizzeria down the street or do I order Pizza Hut? No, you want that experience and that meets that occasion. But if it's a Thursday night and you're running late from picking up your son from baseball practice and there's no way you're going to be able to get dinner on the table and have him fed before his bedtime, we can solve that problem very easily. So it's really just about meeting customers where they are and providing them with solutions that help ease the tension and challenges that they're facing in their lives.
- [15:03]
B
So you just shared a couple more points about turning to it as a solution and oftentimes you have a need that needs to be met. But I also want to talk about the nostalgia piece and these reports of these legacy locations, retail locations being opened up. And for me, again, as a millennial, I look to that and I have a lot of fond memories of eating in a Pizza Hut, what that looked like, having memories of how special that was and that being maybe a 90s era Pizza Hut that I recall. What role does that play in the future roadmap that's kind of separate from what we otherwise have been discussing.
- [15:37]
C
Yeah, we are really excited about all of the love and attention and just memories that people are sharing right now of Pizza Hut as they knew it and they grew up with it. The love of bookit, the love of dine in. I was driving from Dallas to Austin and I was going through Waco, where Baylor University is, and there was a dine in Pizza Hut restaurant. I think it was 11pm the lights were still on, there were people in there, they were sharing Pizza, like around the table. Oh my gosh. That's like that. That's it. Right. And so we are leaning into that because that's what customers are telling us they want. So we have a lot of activations, we have a lot of news coming very soon around that piece, including helping customers find their nearest dine in location so they can go back and have those experiences again.
- [16:31]
B
I also want to ask you about, just like a classic marketer's question. One or two more questions and we'll wrap for now. When you think about growth, what metrics matter most? And I'll bring up a couple different points. Is it new customer acquisition, frequency, lifetime value, app adoption, or something else entirely? Just to name a couple things that potentially could be metrics that matter most.
- [16:57]
C
All of them. Yeah. I mean, they all matter. But if we're really talking growth outside of, I mean, everything should ladder up to sales growth. But really, one of the metrics that we're really focused on right now is how we increase the size of our active Hut Rewards members. Because we know once customers engage with Hut Rewards, they see more value from Pizza Hut. They come to us more often because they feel valued and they feel rewarded. So that gives us kind of a rallying metric to focus on. But with that comes app downloads, because it is now the Hut Rewards app, but it comes with a responsibility that we need to continue to provide value. So that is one of the growth metrics that we're really like laser focused on right now. The app downloads and, you know, married with active Hut Rewards members. And then the goal of that being that it just, it ladders up to same store sales growth through frequency and all of the other metrics you mentioned.
- [17:58]
B
Yeah. Like you said, everything matters, especially in a category where there is really unique and visible application for all those different metrics.
- [18:04]
C
Absolutely. And they just, they all tie together. So I think what we've found is it's really helpful to have a one key metric or one key rallying cry that the organization can really surround itself on or rally around. Okay, we're going after this. That's your output metric that you're focused on, but then you're looking at input metrics along the way to see how you're progressing against that. That.
- [18:31]
A
Yeah.
- [18:31]
B
So a final wrap up question, Ashley. When you look at Pizza Hut's momentum today, what gives you the most confidence about the brand as it's headed into the immediate future?
- [18:41]
C
Yeah, well, we are very excited about the future. We're seeing so much momentum in the business and you know, Yum recently announced that we are being sold to Long Range Capital and we are just very excited about this next chapter of Pizza Hut. We how well We've been with Yum for 40 years. We were part of Pepsi before that. And it really is a signaling point that Pizza Hut is ready for its next chapter of growth. And we're really excited about what that looks like and shaping what that looks like because we already have really strong momentum right now to leverage. And I'm really excited to be part of that next chapter and shaping that next chapter of growth.
- [19:25]
B
Yeah, I know you joined Pizza Hut, I would say, relatively recently. I know it's been a couple years, a couple of years now, but there's still a lot of, you know, Runway ahead of you. And to your point, I think there could be a lot of excitement around this new deal. It's a national headline. There's a lot of curiosity whether or not you work in marketing. People know Pizza Hut globally, as we mentioned earlier. So excited to see what comes next for Pizza Hut and appreciate the conversation.
- [19:49]
C
Me too. Me too. And I have such a high ambitions for this brand and I have so much belief in the potential of this brand. And every person that I meet everywhere I go when they find out I work at Pizza Hut, immediately they have a smile on their face and they say, oh my gosh, I remember whether it's book it, whether it's dine in or the red cup, sorry. People have so much love for this brand and all we have to do is harness that and bring it to them. And I think the world can use a little love. And so I'm excited to be a brand that just puts a smile on people's faces and you can't ask for more than that.
- [20:32]
B
There are brands and I won't mention which ones, but that have had turnarounds because of emotions similar to ones that we've discussed. Exactly. And so I agree the momentum is there and excited to stay on top of it.
- [20:42]
C
Great.
- [20:43]
A
Thanks again to Ashley Kravis from Pizza Hut for joining. Growth isn't always about spending more. It's about making smarter choices. And Ashley shared how Pizza Hut is balancing customer acquisition with loyalty, modernizing a legacy brand without losing what made people love it, and building around the metrics that create sustainable growth. Whether you market pizza enterprise software or something else, there are principles here that carry over. If you enjoyed this episode of Ad Tech Unfiltered, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review and share this episode with a fellow Marketing or advertising? Professional channel. I'm Norn Nasir. We'll see you next time.