Part of Pizza Hut's "Newstalgia" campaign, the long time player turned to its reliable old friend, Pac-Man.

The American multinational restaurant chain got the bigger slice of the pizza by incorporating Augmented Reality, with limited-edition pizza boxes that feature QR codes.

Upon scanning on a smartphone, the QR code will allow customers to play an augmented reality version of Pac-Man, with the opportunity to win an Arcade1Up "Pac-Man" machine cabinet.

"The idea behind Newstalgia was born out of listening to our customers and celebrating all things they associate with and love most about our iconic pizzas, fusing those timeless equities with modern innovations, as seen with the partnership with Pac-Man and limited-edition AR box."

- George Felix, Pizza Hut's Chief Marketing Officer

Turning the classic arcade game into an AR experience via a QR code-enabled pizza box, the sharing of scores on social media has extended the campaign's reach, alongside allowing consumers to capture some of the social experience of on-premise dining that has been lost during the pandemic when the campaign was ongoing.

Yum!, the corporation that owns Pizza Hut, recently reported the chain's Q4 earning, reflecting on an increase in sales by 8% - marking the best quarterly performance for Pizza Hut in 10 years.

"We're always looking for opportunities from a marketing standpoint to see where new technologies or emerging technologies can help us tell the stories that we want to tell and think that this campaign can be disruptive in the context of our category."

- Felix

From a marketing perspective, one of the brand's biggest challenges in recent years has been a lack of consistency, "but with this new campaign and creative positioning, we are aiming to re-establish a strong brand identity rooted in decades of bold innovations, industry firsts, and nostalgic emotional connections", said Felix.