News

Pizza Hut's new March Madness shoe orders pizza, pauses play

March 5, 2018

Pizza Hut's second iteration of its "Pie Tops" sneakers, timed to coincide with March Madness, not only orders pizzas with the push of a button, but also can "pause" the game. That's right, the shoes, which this year come in red and wheat, have a button in one tongue that will pause the game so fans don't miss anything, and a button in the other tongue that orders pizza, a news release said.   

"This year, the Pie Tops II were created to showcase our focus on giving customers the best delivery experience while making sure that tournament fans can feed their pizza craving without missing a moment of the action," CMO Zipporah Allen said in the release. "It's called March Madness for a reason. We don't want anyone to miss a play while answering the door to get their pizza."

Pizza Hut is the Official NCAA March Madness pizza and is offering a special just for the tournament the includes two two-topping medium pizzas for $5.99 each, with an order of two or more.

The Pie Tops II are equipped with Bluetooth technology that links the shoe to the user's phone and Pie Tops app, allowing wearers of the rubber-soled rarities to simply press a smart button to instantly submit a pizza order. 

Linking the shoes to their cable TV provider allows customers to pause the action on their screen.  

Dominic Chambrone, also known as The Shoe Surgeon, designed the shoe's silhouette, which  will come in more sizes for women and teens this year, the release said. The shoes are made of patent, suede, nubuck and gum rubber and Pizza Hut is making 50 pairs available on fashion e-commerce site, Hbx.com.

Pizza Hut hopes the "really big shoe" will call attention to its efforts lately, including voice command ordering, a text messaging pizza tracker and the Hut Rewards, program.