Pizza Hut vs. Domino's: Who Had the Best Media Strategy? Media. The start of the football season kicks off the most important sales period in the pizza- delivery game. A rivalry to match a Cowboys- Redskins playoff would have to be the head- to- head shootout between pizza franchises Pizza Hut and Domino's.

In media terms, there's a high level of blocking and tackling, and strategy that is played out in their advertising programs. Logo- washed sidewalk. Pizza Hut leads the $2. Domino's takes about 1.

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Frozen- pizza sales have jumped, as have private label with consumers trading down. As an act of defiance to the recession, both marketers have held and even increased their advertising media budgets in 2. We decided to evaluate their 2. RATINGS Outstanding/innovative Highly effective Good Disappointing A disaster. Advertising strategies. To stay competitive, Pizza Hut looked to appeal to a wider base, launching new marketing vehicles and products that adhere to the sensibilities of both younger and older consumers. This past year Pizza Hut has experimented with its brand by replacing "Pizza Hut" on take- out boxes with "The Hut," and by pushing the quality of its product and natural ingredients and adding more pasta options to the menu as meal- replacement solutions at home.

The marketer has also introduced an extensive series of social media and nontraditional media programs. Domino's caused a stir late last year by taking jabs at Subway with TV spots touting national taste tests proving Domino's sandwiches were preferred 2 to 1 over Subway's. The ads resulted in a cease- and- desist letter from Subway.

Domino's eventually removed the comparison ads but continued to take shots at Subway, featuring Domino's CEO Dave Brandon "oven baking" the cease and desist in a follow- up spot. Domino's also produced ads directly addressing the recession through "The Big Taste Bailout" and "Taste Stimulus Package" promotions. In August, Domino's began a spot called "Chefs vs. Accountants" starring six team members from the corporation's research and development departments.

TV remains a firm battleground, accounting for about 9. Pizza Hut's and Domino's paid media, respectively, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Domino's TV spots appeared to be more tactical and responsive in the market place, with ads discussing the recession and the value it delivers.

Pizza Hut, by comparison, promoted more of its quality and menu range. Their TV strategies differed significantly.

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Pizza Hut bought a broader and slightly older demographic. For example, 3. 8% of its network buy was on the 2. CBS, with 1. 9% spent on the younger- leaning Fox. That contrasted with Domino's, which bought only 1. CBS, but 4. 9% on Fox. In order to drive efficiencies, Domino's shifted dollars out of network into cable with 3.

TV budget, up from 3. In terms of programming, both had heavy buys in reality shows, with Pizza Hut placing slightly more of its schedule in football programming than Domino's did. Domino's targeted Hispanic media with specific creative and spent 1. TV dollars on Univision and Telemundo.

This was much higher than Pizza Hut, which placed just 5% of its TV plan on Spanish- language networks. Pizza Hut was a large spender in local, placing nearly three times more than Domino's in local spot TV. For its social- media strategy, Pizza Hut implemented a broad- ranging program across Facebook, Twitter and You. Tube. First, it established a Facebook fan page that included an application to order pizzas without having to leave the site. It actively recruited membership to that page, with efforts including $5. Watch The Net 2.0 Download Full.

Pizza Hut gift cards and the "Passport to Italy Sweepstakes" to help launch its new Tuscani Lasagna. To date, Pizza Hut's Facebook page has accumulated more than 1 million fans. It's used the database of friends to send out promotional announcements and product news. Domino's Pizza Tracker.

This summer, Pizza Hut promoted the recruitment of a Twitter internship to manage the company's voice on the micro- blogging site. The winning Twintern's job description encompassed sharing insights and experiences on marketing meetings, special events, ad shoots, promotions and product news through the social- media channel. This was a clever initiative, and while it was a little gimmicky, it did generate a lot of interest among Twitter users in the marketing community, as well as capture the attention of the student market it no doubt was primarily intended to target. It allowed the marketer to be seen as more relevant, interesting and in touch. One good example of a viral online video Pizza Hut created was a posting of outtakes in which comedian Jim Breuer flips out while filming a TV commercial.

According to Visible Measures, nearly 4. While numerous bloggers have passed off these programs as somewhat staged, I say hats off to the Pizza Hut team for pushing this medium and beating most others to the ball.

Domino's Facebook page, while not enjoying as many fans (3. It also built an excellent feature - - the "Domino's Pizza Tracker" - - an application that can be added to your newsfeed and essentially informs your friends on exactly what type of pizza you ordered and what stage that the pizza is in the delivery process. Green Acres Season 6 here.

It really integrates the brand masterfully into Facebook's functionality. In case you didn't pick it up, last April Domino's was the victim of two renegade employees who uploaded a prank video allegedly showing them doing all sorts of nasty and gross things in the kitchen of a store. Within just a few days, the video went viral and was viewed over a million times - - a nightmare scenario for any marketer.

Many other companies would have been paralyzed or would have tried to fight through the traditional media route. Kudos to Domino's, who responded quickly to the incident by posting its own video on You. Tube. President- U. S. Operations Patrick Doyle gave a very sincere and apologetic message that went a long way to limiting the damage and trying to undo the issue through social media. The company also set up a Twitter account, "@dpzinfo," to refute the prank video and posting. Online advertising. Both Domino's and Pizza Hut just about tripled their investment in online advertising in 2.

Domino's primarily promoted its delivery service with immediate call to action. It also promoted its American Legends Challenge, encouraging users to vote for their favorite regional- styled pizza with an opportunity to win free Domino's pizza for a year.