See Pizza Hut Delivering Pizzas Underground Because Of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Pizza Hut is partnering with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to bring pizzas under the streets.
According to ComicBook.com, Pizza Hut recently staged a promotion in New York subways that allowed New Yorkers to have pizza delivered to them at certain spots in the underground. Dubbed a “test” by the pizza chain, the stunt was part of their connection with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The event—which featured real pizza deliveries to real New Yorkers, was all captured on video to promote the restaurant and the film.
In the clip, cameras head under the New York streets and into the subway system at Union Square, showing everyday New Yorkers stumbling upon a red Pizza Hut poster that simply reads, “Now Delivering Underground.” The poster is situated in a space made to look like the paint has worn off the bricks with graffiti that reads, among other things, “No one out pizzas the Hut.” There are even some ninja stars stuck into the wall.
It instructs people to text a turtle emoji to a certain number, which several of them do. Then we see a Pizza Hut delivery person coming up to them a bit later with a hot, fresh pizza. While the idea seems fun, and the people in the video are amazed and excited, we doubt this test will carry forward into a long-term delivery option for the chain.
In a press release, Lindsay Morgan, Pizza Hut’s chief marketer, remarks that the pizza giant has had a connection with the Turtles since the 1990s, making the new campaign a “no-brainer” for the brand. But underground pizza deliveries are just the first, most eye-catching part of the plan. In the video showing the subterranean pies on demand, there is also an ad for a new augmented reality (AR) game featuring the shelled martial artists.
In the new Pizza Hut game, TMNT: Pizza Power, players can use their mobile devices to deliver pizza to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at various locations in their neighborhoods. It’s a sort of pizza-and-turtles-themed version of Pokémon Go. But the game also allows players the chance to win real-world prizes for their deliveries, including, fittingly, pizza.
But Pizza Hut’s involvement with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem doesn’t end with a mobile game and subway station deliveries. They will also be featured in upcoming television spots promoting the film, and several scenes in the film will reportedly include the brand. With all that product placement, we hope the movie won’t start to feel like a pizza delivery advertisement.
Meanwhile, Pizza Hut will continue to use pizza delivery to advertise the film, and it looks like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles AR game might be fun. The seventh film to feature the heroes in a half-shell, Mutant Mayhem seems to be returning to a more lighthearted, cartoonish take on the characters, with bright colors, winning smiles, and celeb voices like Seth Rogan and John Cena as Bebop and Rocksteady, and Jackie Chan as Splinter.
The animated movie hits theatres on August 2, so be prepared for more than a solid month of Turtles at your local Hut.
