News
Pizza Hut 'red roof' logo reboot a bid to establish category dominance
June 25, 2019
If you're a Baby Boomer or even a Gen X-er, you might wistfully remember lots of rowdy teen-age times spent at the once ubiquitous red-roofed Pizza Huts that were sprinkled over communities from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Now, under the Yum Brands family, Pizza Hut has returned to that old quasi-triangular shape in its logo, which the brand said is part of its attempt to establish itself as a "classic" of sorts and the leader in the pizza category, of which it is actually No. 2 — behind Domino's in global sales.
"The return of the classic red roof logo is really to embrace our position as a leader in the category," Pizza Hut Chief Brand Officer Marianne Radley said in an interview with Pizza Marketplace. "Pizza Hut is an iconic brand that is ingrained in the hearts and minds of so many of our customers, we felt it was our job to make our creative reflect both the rich legacy of Pizza Hut, as well as nod to where we're headed."
Radley said that the brand performed what she termed "qualitative research," with more than 3,000 consumers. Consistently, she said the responses indicated that those interviewed continue to see the 61-year-old brand as what she referred to as "America's Original Pizza Company."
"So we decided it was time to really embrace our heritage," she said.
But as far as the brand also making a return to those triangular-roofed stores, Radley said that would not be part of this logo shift, which she labeled as being more tonal in character.
"It's more of a shift in tone and attitude, and an opportunity to reaffirm the foundation that our restaurant and our success were built on — great pizza," she said. "The most immediate changes will come through in our advertising, which will feature the iconic red roof logo, refreshed tone and a bold, new way of showcasing the food so that the pizza is featured as the true hero."
The creative efforts associated with the re-imagined marketing launched last week, as Pizza Marketplace previously reported, with the re-emergence of Pizza Huts Cheesy Bites pizza, which Radley said is kind of a "cult classic" for the brand.
Sister brand at Yum, KFC, has had amazing success with its return to the branding associated with its founder, Col. Harland Sanders, over the last five years or so, as well.
