Pizza Hut Canada is wrapped and ready for the holidays with its new pizza-themed gift wrap. Created by the brand’s agency, Grip, the wrapping paper was initially quirky concept art posted to Pizza Hut Canada’s Facebook page. After a post on Dec. 2 received more than 600 likes and 42 shares, the brand decided to put it into production for real and gift it to some of its most loyal brand fans.
Randy Stein, partner at Grip, said the agency has produced 50 rolls and is currently asking its Facebook fans to explain why they want the wrapping paper and will send rolls to select consumers. “It’s a ‘thank you’ to our Facebook community for being so devoted to the Pizza Hut brand – they just have to tell us why they want it and we’ll send rolls to our most enthusiastic and deserving fans,” he said.
The wrapping paper follows the pizza-scented perfume that Grip and Pizza Hut Canada made for the holidays last year. Like the wrapping paper, the perfume was initially posted as a joke and then produced and sent to customers when it gained traction on Facebook.
“Our overarching strategy is to involve our Facebook community in shaping the brand’s social presence,” Stein said. “Their engagement informs our decisions on content, exclusive offers, and other initiatives, like the perfume and wrapping paper. For this particular initiative, we posted the gift wrap as a fun post and if the reaction was positive, we had plans in place to produce the real thing.”
The perfume went on to be a massive PR hit for the brand, including exposure on Conan O’Brien, Live With Kelly and Michael and Anderson Cooper’s RidicuList.
