I’ve been wanting to write about this topic for a couple of months now because it involves some of my favourite things: Pizza, Xbox, and brilliant uses of digital media in marketing. It also fits seamlessly into this blog’s theme of partnership activation.
Back in April 2013, Xbox Live announced a partnership with Pizza Hut. This partnership saw the integration of Pizza Hut’s online ordering into an interactive Xbox Live app (USA only). The app allows users to synchronize their Microsoft and Pizza Huts accounts so that their preferences and delivery locations are already known. Payments are processed through Microsoft accounts; these are linked to the credits cards or PayPal accounts of gamers. Here’s Pizza Hut’s promo video:
What I Think
There are aspects from both the creative and strategy sides of this app that stand out to me. In terms of creative, I think the app has tremendous visual appeal. With image/video sharing social media on the rise, this is crucial. Marketing research company Euromonitor International (2014) identified “visual craving” as one of the top 10 global consumer trends of 2014. Purchasers can see a visual preview of their pizza that updates as toppings are added. Furthermore, the design balances the creative of both brands evenly; the colours used are from Pizza Hut’s palette, but Xbox’s signature font “Convection” is used. I also think the hands-free order was a great way to use Xbox Kinect.
Source: (Polygon, 2014)
When I think about the strategy side, part of me wonders what took so long for this partnership to be formed. Pizza and gaming go hand-in-hand and this app takes the complication out of picking up the phone or getting onto the computer to place an order (so complicated, right?). I believe Xbox was the one to approach Pizza Hut with this idea, not the other way around. Xbox and the other major consoles have been evolving into these all-in-one consoles to compete with computers, tablets, and Smart TVs. You have to remember that, for Pizza Hut, gamers are only a small slice of the pie (no pun intended) that is their target market. But I saw this as more of an opportunity to reach Generation Y altogether.
As an Xbox user, I know that there are two distinct groups in the Live community: (1) those who have their own credit cards, and (2) those who have their parents’ credit cards. Eventually, gamers (hopefully) move from the second group to the first and suddenly have purchasing both on and offline. Marketers have difficulties reaching Generation Y, especially the younger half of it. The partnership puts Pizza Hut into the evoked set of this generation, which is made up of both current and future customers.
If I was Papa John’s or Domino’s, I would be knocking on the doors of Playstation and Nintendo in a heartbeat.
The Results
The app took a lot of criticism when it was first launched. Many thought the idea had very limited potential and that gamers would simply order pizza with a phone, tablet or computer. There were also ethical concerns surrounding topics such as obesity and encouraging laziness altogether.
Although part of the above may be true, it is not the part about the app’s limited potential. It was released in January 2014 that Pizza Hut did $1 million in sales through the app in its first four months (McWhertor, 2014). So Domino’s, I strongly recommend having a chat with Playstation.
I believe this to be mastery, but do you think the benefits of the revenue outweigh the potential ethical consequences? What other industries/companies could you see benefiting from this kind of partnership?
References
Euromonitor International. (2014, January 13). Top Industry Trends of 2014. Retrieved from YouTube: http://youtu.be/yVtXoUl66bM.
McWhertor, M. (2014, January 8). Pizza Hut sold $1 million in pizzas through Xbox 360 in four months. Retrieved from Polygon: http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/8/5289704/pizza-hut-sold-1-million-dollars-in-pizzas-on-xbox-360-in-four-months
Keanen Buckley 
Wow, I had no idea that you could order pizza this way. I wonder if Generation Y had the opportunity to order something healthier than pizza, like a deli sandwich and carrot sticks, whether that would be a sell? Yeah, I doubt it too. I think that the ethical concerns you point out with regards to this encouraging obesity and laziness are very valid points. I wonder if there will be a backlash from concerned parents and what other long term effects not-leaving-the-couch will have on this generation of gamers.
Phone overuse is causing health effects too; a doctor recently diagnosed “whatsappitis” which is caused by too much texting. In a specific example, a woman was texting for 6 hours straight and she was in so much pain that she had to go to the doctor.
Check out the article here: http://time.com/38952/whatsapp-health-damage/
Thanks for your comments Gillian!
Digital is definitely taking over, both on and offline. I’m sure humans have even started to adapt accordingly. It wouldn’t surprise me if future generations are born with stronger thumbs and better eyesight to be able to read small screens and survive prolonged exposure to TVs, computer monitors, tablet, etc.
As for WhatsApp, you have to feel bad for the brand. Text messaging has been around for some time now and Apple/Blackberry are lucky their iMessage/BBM aren’t the ones being portrayed negatively by health risks.
Keanen
When I first heard of this partnership I knew it was goin to be a hit – why? Because a ton of gamers smoke weed, and whats a side effect of smoking weed? Munching out! What’s a better much out food than Pizza hut?Nothing!(Or so my friends say…).
I can’t believe other fast food companies haven’t thought of this before – its a HUGE market and comes at such a minimal cost. The reason why a lot fo people haven’t heard about it is because they don’t’ market it that much…because they don’t need to.
I like how you touched on the two types of Xbox live games: Those with their own credit cards and those with their parents
I just wonder how many kids will keep ordering pizza’s off their parents credit cards until their parents get pissed off.
As for it being ethical? I don’t think that’s a concern – I mean a smartphone has identical apps and people aren’t picketing them for having a pizza hut or dominos app!
I will say though that android is coming out with a gaming console and I can only assume all the googleplay apps will be on there(pizzahut/dominos/freshslice).
Cheers