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Pizza Hut to market Pooch characters

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 10

TAKING forward its Pizza Pooch birthday party concept, the Tricon Restaurants International-owned Pizza Hut chain of restaurants, proposes to market its Pooch characters, Disney style.

A two-pronged strategy has been planned for the purpose, Mr. Pankaj Batra, Senior Marketing Manager, Tricon Restaurants International, told newspersons at a press briefing here. The five Pooch characters _ Pizza Pooch, Pupperoni, Speedy, Topper and the C at _ have been refined over time, and in the first stage will attempt to familiarise kids with initiatives such as the Pizza Hut birthday party programme. The second stage will involve linking the characters to a property (Pizza Hut, in this case), and e xtend them to merchandise such as stuffed toys, T-shirts and snap cards.``The intent is to develop more items carrying the Pizza Hut Pooch branding and take it beyond two-dimensional reach,'' Mr. Batra said.

Meanwhile, Tricon is rolling out a multi-media communication exercise comprising a print campaign in city-specific dailies, hoardings, and dispatching mailers to a specific database of kids. Mr. Batra ruled out the possibility of electronic advertising a t this stage.

As is the case with McDonald's, Pizza Hut too is focussing heavily on children to drive in traffic.