Ad Campaign of the Week: Pizza Hut Ad Stars Kristen Wiig as Everyone

Everyone loves pizza. And that’s just who Kristen Wiig plays in a new Pizza Hut ad -- everyone. The comedy star touts the importance of hot and fresh pizza that’s delivered quickly, while playing everyone from an auto mechanic to an awkward high school student. So just what does everyone think of this ad? We asked 1,000 respondents about their pizza buying habits and their thoughts on the Pizza Hut brand. Then we tested the ad to see if it made any impact on those opinions and buying habits.

Pizza Consumers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 9% of respondents said that they order pizza at least a few times per week. 46% order pizza a few times a month. 26% do so a few times every three months. 17% order pizza less frequently than once every three months. And just 2% said they are not pizza consumers at all.Of those who order pizza at least on occasion, 71% said that they have tried Pizza Hut pizza. And 45% said that they order from Pizza Hut regularly, making it the most popular pizza chain among respondents. In addition, 65% of respondents said they’ve seen commercials or video advertisements for pizza chains within the past week.

Pizza Hut Ad

Overall, 21% of respondents said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Pizza Hut for their next pizza purchase. And 25% said it would be very probable. Of those who viewed the Pizza Hut ad featuring Kristen Wiig, 22% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Pizza Hut for their next pizza purchase. And 26% said it would be very probable. In addition, 44% of respondents said they recognized Kristen Wiig from the commercial. Of those respondents, 21% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Pizza Hut for their next pizza purchase. And And 24% said it would be very probable.

Brand Attributes

In general, respondents seem to associate words like delicious, tasty, quality, great and best with the Pizza Hut brand. Those who viewed the Kristen Wiig Pizza Hut ad were likely to use those same descriptors. But ad viewers were also a bit more likely to use words like fast, fresh and innovative.

Key Takeaways

The Pizza Hut commercial featuring Kristen Wiig didn’t seem to make much of an impact on consumers’ buying habits. Even those who recognized Wiig in the commercial weren’t any more likely to say that they’d choose Pizza Hut over other pizza chains. So it wouldn’t even be worth it for the company to target the specific people who would be most familiar with her. But the people who viewed the ad were a bit more likely to mention some of the features like fresh delivery and innovative tracking features that the ad called attention to. So it might not be a totally lost cause. In fact, focusing more on the message and less on the comedy might prove to be a more effective route for the brand. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Pizza Hut, Fernandina Beach, FL (Amelia Island) by Tadson Bussey under CC BY-ND 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on July 26 via AYTM’s online survey panel.