Pasta way to do it… Pizza Hut gets healthy publicity from new name stunt

Published on Saturday 7 March 2009 19:44

AS BRASS-necked corporate stunts go, it takes some topping.

Last October Pizza Hut made headlines around the globe when it announced it was slicing away decades of tradition by changing its name to Pasta Hut.

Now the corporate rebranding, which was trumpeted as a sign of the chain's conversion to healthier eating, has quietly been ditched and the familiar logo has been reinstated at restaurants across the country.

Pizza Hut's UK chiefs insist the U-turn was motivated by "popular demand", but the fast-food giant's American boss has admitted that an identical move in the States was little more than publicity-grabbing "tomfoolery" and there was never any intention to permanently change the name.

Marketing experts have claimed the name change, which was backed by a major advertising offensive, was little more than a cynical hoax. But the firm insists the fleeting rebranding was part of a serious effort to highlight its commitment to extending healthier eating choices.

More than 15 flagship restaurants around the UK, including one in Glasgow's West George Street, were fully revamped with Pasta Hut-liveries, menus and balloons with the expectation that all other outlets would follow.

But now, just a few months later and with considerably less hoopla, the signs have been removed and it is business as usual. A spokeswoman for Pizza Hut in the UK insisted the volte-face was down to customer democracy.

She said: "We asked our customers to vote on whether we should change our name to Pasta Hut. Although they clearly loved our new pasta menu, our online poll revealed that 81% wanted us to keep the name Pizza Hut, so the Pasta Hut trial has now ended.

"However, we are the keeping the changes we made to the nutritional content of our menu, with the salt and fat levels significantly reduced."

But in the US the firm has admitted its brief Pasta Hut rebranding was little more than a "light-hearted" hoax. Pizza Hut president and chief concept officer Scott Bergren issued a statement of clarification which said: "We will not be making a permanent name change to Pasta Hut.

"The launch of our Tuscani pasta marked a new day for Pizza Hut and what better way to grab people's attention than with some tomfoolery."

Neil Christie, managing director of London-based PR firm Wieden & Kennedy, insisted there was never any chance that the firm would make such a sweeping change.

He said: "You don't go to Pizza Hut for pasta any more than you would go to McDonalds for a salad.

"After they unveiled the name change amid a blaze of publicity they insisted it was a permanent move, but it comes as no surprise that they are now quietly changing them back."

Kate Wild, of Wild Card PR,

said: "I have no doubt that the switch to Pasta Hut was nothing more than a PR stunt from start to finish. But if they managed to sell more pasta by pulling the wool over peoples' eyes, then well done them."

Pizza Hut was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958 and opened its first UK franchise in London in 1973.