Pizza hut to remove “Pizza” and become “The Hut”

June 25, 2009 – 1:52 pm – No Comment

In a move the head of marketing for Pizza Hut calls in tune with the “mobile” generation, Pizza Hut will become “The Hut,” removing the word Pizza from the title.

Pizza Hut marketing executive Brian Niccol said, “[Pizza Hut is] introducing another vocabulary that ties in with the texting generation. As we expand our online and mobile businesses, ‘The Hut’ is the perfect icon for our mobile generation.”

I suppose that what he means is that he wants the brand to be seen as “cool”? I’m really unsure on this one. However, I believe the move is an attempt to move away from being seen solely as a “pizza place.”

The move is an actual attempt to re-brand the company. Over the past few years the company has tried to do everything from introducing a whole new line of items under the “WingStreet” brand to the new baked pastas. The company feels as though it will see more success with those products if the word “Pizza” is removed from the company name.

This isn’t the first attempt Yum! brands, who owns Pizza Hut, has attempted to re-brand one of it’s subsidiaries. Look at KFC and what it is currently trying to do with that company. At one point it tried to make the company name just KFC and not stand for anything. Now, it has come out with “grilled” chicken. If you’ve ever tried the grilled chicken, you would understand why I put it in quotes. It’s still just as greasy. Yum! is trying so hard to make the food it already sells appear healthy that I feel it has quit trying to make the food ACTUALLY healthy.