King of Crusts

There are two ways to take potshots at a rival brand and pitch yourself as the better option: you either emphasise the rival’s weaknesses with abandon and relish, or you make a dignified case for your own superiority, no questions asked. Pizza Hut just might have hit upon a third. In its latest ad film, it irreverently pokes fun at its biggest competitor by implying that Pizza Hut’s point of superiority actually might be its rival’s Achilles’ heel.

In the film, the brand quite literally drags its competitor, Domino’s Pizza in the battling arena: a mock set-up of a typical Western shootout. With no attempts at ambiguity or subtlety, there’s Mr Pizza Hut on one side, and Mr Dominic on the other. And instead of gunslingers you have pizzaslingers, fighting it out to see who has the best crust. Says Prashant Gaur, chief brand officer, Pizza Hut, “We wanted to create awareness about our stuffed crust pizza range without compromising on the fun and humour — an important characteristic of all our campaigns.”

Not too long ago, Pizza Hut’s ‘Dominic and Dominica’ ad campaign had gone viral. Gaur emphasises that it is as much about pushing the boundary for the brand in terms of its taste as it is about its pizza category (that is, stuffed crust pizzas), as far as digital campaigns go. But the at the core of the idea, both Gaur and Ajay Gahlaut of Ogilvy India, who conceptualised the film agree, it is about establishing Pizza Hut’s superiority. “Of course, our hero is better in every department — taste, looks, and the works,” adds Gahlaut.