Pizza Hut has started to change the name of some of its stores to The Hut, the rationale being that they don’t want to tie their fortunes to one product (pizza). Its packaging now proudly displays the chain’s new focus (or lack thereof): “Pizza – Pasta – Wings”.
Here’s the problem. Ask anybody you know what Pizza Hut stands for and they will tell you one thing: pizza. Come back in five years and ask: “what does The Hut stand for?” What do you think the answer will be?
Here’s a wild guess: not pasta, not wings, and most likely, not pizza either. Those of us old enough to remember that The Hut once stood for pizza will probably have forgotten, and newer consumers will probably be too young to make the connection. Most likely, The Hut will turn into just another me-too offering in the crowded “a-little-bit-of-everything” budget restaurant category.
On the plus column, at least Yum Brands (The Hut’s parent company) is not yet rolling this out to all the stores.
What do you think? Good or bad idea?
It’s a bad idea, but only a small part of a bigger problem. While, technically, Pizza Hut may stand for pizza, it long ago stopped standing for _good_ pizza. Years ago my friends and I knew we could go to Pizza Hut and get a decent pizza for a decent price, but no longer. The last few times Pizza Hut gave us pizzas that were obviously slapped-together-from-frozen-ingredients piles of grease. They’ve lost site of their core purpose in a misguided attempt to broaden their market and everything has suffered. The rebranding is just another sign of this.
Incidentally, Radio Shack is doing the exact same thing. Apparently no longer interested in pretending they’ve become nothing more than a cell phone store–with toys around Christmas–they’ve started rebranding themselves as The Shack. Thinking about how much cool electronics stuff I got there in my youth, not to mention my first computer, this final plunge over the cliff breaks my heart a little.
Hi @Matt:
Tough predicament the one Radio Shack is in. Sometimes I think that they should just get rid of all the stores and operate radioshack.com as an Intenet store only, carrying the things we’re used to buy at Radio Shack (hint: not mobile phones).
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
@Mario
Radio Shack and Pizza Hut have both put themselves in tough positions. I think it’s too late for Radio Shack. I just went to check their website and didn’t really see anything there I couldn’t get at Best Buy cheaper. It never occurs to me to go there for anything electronic anymore (not even tools; that’s what ebay is for, now).
As to Pizza Hut… The Hut? Seriously? First off, nothing about the word “hut” suggests Italy or Italian food to me. And while no one in their right mind would suggest Pizza Hut serves anything remotely authentically Italian, their primary offerings are supposed to be Italian-inspired, at least. Second, “The Hut” sounds like they’re trying way too hard to position themselves as hip/cool/happenin’/phat/whatever-today’s-youth-are-saying without actually having earned it. It’s like they gave themselves a nickname (which the truly cool _never_ do) and now are rebranding based on it.
Which Radio Shack, strangely, is also doing. Only in a way that’s sadder. At their promo page (http://www.radioshack.com/theshack/) they’ve put up the new tagline “Our friends call us The Shack.” Really? Really? I have never in my life heard Radio Shack referred to as The Shack. Ever. They’ve given themselves a nickname and are pretending all the cool kids have called them that all along.
All of this ignores the search engine implications of these ridiculous name changes. Just try Googling Radio Shack vs The Shack.
Got to agree that this is a seriously bad move. They’re going from having an identity (albeit a dated one but still recognizable) to none. Now, even those of us who can occasionally get nostalgic for Pizza Hut will have lost the ability to do so. In a day an age when “niche” and being focused are often the key to survival this seems like a slow-death move.
Will they call their bigger locations ‘the building’. its regressive from branding perspective, I can tell what Pizza Hut is by its name alone, Not so with ‘The Hut’, I have no clue what it is, and the word doesn’t even have positive connotation (unless its raining)
It’d be a great idea if……
Consumers would associate the new logo, or name with their desire to purchase food. The emotional tie between that name or logo and their reason for purchasing, must coincide for a “brand” to be successful. So changing a brand or logo just in itself, separates existing ties consumers have already formed. To form new emotional ties means they have to consistently meet the expectations of their consumers. The original brand was a large success because of its core focus on the casual eating experience. People began to associate that experience with the redroof logo, and the PizzaHUt brand name. Today their focus is on way too many products, and concept types. They try to appeal to fastfooders, value oriented purchasers, casual theme eaters, and delivery service. Unless they do ALL of these well they won’t have the needed identity to form those emotional ties to their brand. And I can tell you from my own consumer experiences, that in every category there are many other companies that do these things better. It’s called focus.
It’d be a great idea if……
Consumers would associate the new logo, or name with their desire to purchase food. The emotional tie between that name or logo and their reason for purchasing, must coincide for a “brand” to be successful. So changing a brand or logo just in itself, separates existing ties consumers have already formed. To form new emotional ties means they have to consistently meet the expectations of their consumers. The original brand was a large success because of its core focus on the casual eating experience. People began to associate that experience with the redroof logo, and the PizzaHUt brand name. Today their focus is on way too many products, and concept types. They try to appeal to fastfooders, value oriented purchasers, casual theme eaters, and delivery service. Unless they do ALL of these well they won’t have the needed identity to form those emotional ties to their brand. And I can tell you from my own consumer experiences, that in every category there are many other companies that do these things better. It’s called focus.
BAD IDEA! Lost contract because of this, and lost my job…
Sara Lee Bakery…..made Pizza Hut dough, and had a 5 year contract, Pizza Hut did not renew their contract so now Sara Lee Bakery is closing down….and has been around for over 23 years…………for get the wings and pasta and hut…..cause then Pizza Hut’s will be shuting down…..too expensive anyway…