Pizza Hut® Powers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles In Blockbuster Movie Partnership

PLANO, Texas, July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Pizza Hut and the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will join forces on a summer-long promotion celebrating the return of an all-time favorite Pizza Hut pizza: Cheesy Bites AND the arrival of the new movie featuring the pizza loving Turtle brothers, appearing in theaters nationwide on August 8^th from Paramount Pictures.

The pizza/movie pact, which kicks off today, revives a long standing connection between the world's largest pizza company and the Turtles brand, going back decades to the previous animated films, live concerts and packaging promotions.

One thing that hasn't changed over time though is the Turtles' love of pizza, which is why Pizza Hut will offer a large one-topping Cheesy Bites pizza for $11.99 beginning July 7 as the featured product during the promotion.

"There's no denying the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' love of pizza, which is one of the many reasons it fits having our brand fuel their hunger in the upcoming film," said Carrie Walsh, Chief Marketing Officer, Pizza Hut. "Coupling the popularity of the Ninja Turtles to our pizza innovation, we're thrilled to be bringing back a fan favorite in Cheesy Bites Pizza that combines the great pizza taste with a little 'food fun' for fans to enjoy." 

The 2014 partnership with Pizza Hut and the Ninja Turtles live action film delivers a high tech offering to engage customers including augmented reality, digital videos, hidden menus, custom pizza boxes and even a throwback to a super fan favorite – The Pizza Thrower vehicle at live events.

The Pizza Hut campaign around the big screen return of the Turtles will be supported with a custom national television spot featuring the famous Turtles invading a Pizza Hut test kitchen.  

"We just couldn't seem to keep the Turtles from devouring all the Pizza Hut pizza on set," commented LeeAnne Stables, Executive Vice President of Marketing Partnerships at Paramount Pictures. "This national partnership delivers so many cool and innovative ways for Ninja Turtle fans to take part in the excitement around the film release."

There are many opportunities for fans to experience and engage throughout the campaign, including:

Pizza Hut and Ninja Turtles Go Digital

To kick off the promotion, Pizza Hut will host a #TBTMNT (Throwback Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) promotion on its Twitter and Instagram channels where fans are encouraged to post their old turtle swag or turtle costumes for chances to win gift cards and other prizes. More information can be found on the Pizza Hut Twitter channel.

Leading up to the premiere of the Ninja Turtles movie, fans can learn the "turtle way" to cut a pizza "Katana Style" via a "Katana Cut" training video. Fans will then be able to order a pizza cut this way – in four Ninja Turtle-size slices instead of eight – to draw a closer experience to the film.

In addition, the box topper for Cheesy Bites Pizzas will feature an augmented reality experience for customers at home. Fans will have a chance to unlock extended footage from the movie and additional content through an interactive AR experience.

All digital assets will also be housed on a new Tumblr page hosted by Pizza Hut. The page will provide an arena for fans of pizza and the Ninja Turtles to showcase memories and stories related to the Turtles and Pizza Hut for other enthusiasts around the world to enjoy.

Ninja Turtles Hidden Menu

While all the Turtles have a love of pizza, they each have their own favorite. To highlight this, Pizza Hut will include an exclusive online only "hidden menu" that features unique Cheesy Bites Pizza recipes inspired by the personality of each Ninja Turtle. The recipes are as follows and are available for $13.99.

• Donatello's Favorite Pizza: chicken, mushroom, green pepper and tomatoes                                                                                         
• Leonardo' s Favorite Pizza: onions, black olives, green pepper and mushrooms
• Michelangelo' s Favorite Pizza: pepperoni, ham, pineapple and jalapeño
• Raphael' s Favorite Pizza: pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon and beef

Pizza Thrower Makes Comeback in Life-Size Form

Pizza Hut will reprise a legendary toy figure and fan favorite by unveiling a life-size version of the "Pizza Hut Pizza Thrower," which will make appearances at live events. Fans will be able to take charge of the iconic vehicle and fire Cheesy Bites Pizza props at targets, including movie bad guys like Shredder and the Foot Clan, and also enjoy a sampling of real Cheesy Bites Pizza.

The Return of Cheesy Bites

Introduced in 2006, Cheesy Bites Pizza has 28 cheese-filled bites that take the place of a traditional crust edge. During the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles partnership, a large 1-topping Cheesy Bites Pizza is available for $11.99.

To order Cheesy Bites Pizza visit PizzaHut.com or any of our more than 6,300 locations nationwide. Pizza Hut also has the largest suite of ordering channels of any national pizza chain, including apps for iPhone, Windows, Android and Xbox 360 as well as iPad and a mobile site.

More information about the brand can be found on the company's Facebook  and Twitter pages.

About Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant in the world. In 2014, Pizza Hut was named the Harris Poll Equitrend® Pizza Brand of the Year and was the recipient of the Innovation and Leadership in Advertising Award from the American Advertising Federation, 10^th District. The only pizza company to be named a top ten franchise in 2013 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Pizza Hut began 56 years ago in Wichita, Kansas, and today operates more than 14,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. Pizza Hut also is the proprietor of the BOOK IT!® Program, which is a long-standing children's literacy program used in more than 620,000 classrooms nationwide. To order online from Pizza Hut, visit PizzaHut.com.

Twitter: @Pizzahut
Facebook: Facebook.com/pizzahut
Instagram: Instagram.com/pizzahut

About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film

The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film is a modern-day iteration of the popular franchise that has captivated audiences of all ages for decades. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April O'Neil (Megan Fox) and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) to save New York City and unravel Shredder's diabolical plan.  Based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec and Evan Daugherty, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is produced by Michael Bay (director and executive producer of the blockbuster Transformers franchise), Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Galen Walker, Scott Mednick and Ian Bryce, and directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans).

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is a trademark of Viacom International Inc.

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SOURCE Pizza Hut