
Courtesy Pizza Hut Canada
Pizza Hut Canada has produced a limited-edition of a fragrance that smells like "freshly baked, hand-tossed dough."
At last, a perfume option for those who want nothing more than to be surrounded by the heavenly aroma of fresh pizza.
In what promises to be a viral marketing bonanza and the inspiration for late-night comedians everywhere, Pizza Hut Canada has produced a limited-edition of “Eau de Pizza Hut.” The fragrance boasts “top notes of freshly baked, hand-tossed dough,” the company said in a news release.
“It’s amazing how such a simple idea can intrigue people,” said Beverley D'Cruz, marketing and product development director of Pizza Hut Canada, adding that she has heard from contacts all over the world curious about the perfume.
“People have fun eating pizza, so we had some fun doing this.”
The project began several months ago when Pizza Hut Canada asked fans on its Facebook page whether they loved the smell of a box of pizza being opened and what it might be called if it were perfume.
There were dozens of cheesy suggestions, including “Eau de Pepperoni,” “Devour by Pizza Hut,” and “Pizzaz.” The post has received more than 270 comments in all.
It was the highest user engagement the company has ever seen, so it began brainstorming what to do next.
“Somebody said, ‘What if we actually made a perfume?’ So we said, let’s try it,” D'Cruz recalled.
Pizza Hut Canada then tasked a perfume maker to create a fragrance that smelled like freshly baked bread. Some of the initial samples smelled more like cheese, others more like pepperoni, but eventually the perfect product emerged.
The company doesn’t envision that people will spray themselves with it, but rather use it as a room fragrance, D'Cruz said.
Only 110 bottles were produced – each featuring the familiar red Pizza Hut logo -- and distributed to the first Facebook fans to ask for the perfume. Since the creation has gotten so much attention, Pizza Hut Canada is planning to produce another batch of bottles to send out as gifts. There are no plans at the moment to retail the product.
Branding expert Karen Post called the project an excellent marketing strategy.
“The viral potential is huge because it’s so off the wall,” Post said.
“Brands like Pizza Hut have the latitude to get quirky because their target audience is highly concentrated in the younger folks and comedy is a great way to be relevant to that audience. If they were selling banking services, it’s maybe a little different.”
Smart PR firms now add top comedians to their distribution lists precisely because they want popular late-night hosts to mention a brand name to their huge audiences, Post said.
Another smart move on Pizza Hut’s part? Creating demand by producing only 110 bottles of the quirky perfume. People always want things that they can’t get their hands on, Post said.
Going on Facebook also allows a company to do a viral marketing campaign “organically and fairly low-cost,” she added.
This isn’t the first time a fast-food company has cooked up a fragrance. You may remember “Flame by BK,” a meat-scented body spray introduced as part of a marketing stunt by Burger King in 2008.
The anchors chat about the topics making headlines today and play a round of "Pizza or perfume?" as they blindfold Al Roker and Willie Geist to see if they can distinguish Pizza Hut's new pizza-scented perfume from a slice of the real thing.
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Because everyone wants to smell like leftovers. Not.
Probably smells like the big Fart after a couple of pizzas...
Last time a buddy of mine secretly released one of those farts, we almost got our ass kicked by a bunch of kids at Caesars Pizza...no, but no thanks.
Wear this and you'll be very popular with dogs and cannibals.
Trailer Park Spanish Fly.
That may be the only way for them to beat their competition, it may sell better than their pizza...
Yes because everyone who works there loves coming home smelling like pizza hut every day....
::snifff:: ahh the smell of indigestion
They should be baking up some new rules and sanitary conditions. The Pizza Hut up North in a MN town is so dirty and the people who work there don't use gloves when fixing pizza. All the employees have rings hanging out of every hole they can make on their bodies. It turns ones stomach to even walk in the door.
Which is why it is changing hands again. Nobody wants to eat there.
Not sure whether this will smell good or not, but I do wish more perfumes were food scents. Especially fruits, like raspberry, cherry, strawberry... Licorice, cinnamon, stuff like that might be nice, too. Victoria's Secret makes (or made?) a nice vanilla one. Most perfume just stinks! (Of course, if your perfume smells like food, you might be bothered by flies, ants, bears...)
maybe so, but pizza hut is not food
Try Bath & Body Works or the Body shop for the scents you mentioned.
yuch
This smells like a "half-baked" idea to me.
This, Flame, and the new bacon-scented shaving creme will be great when the zombies come - they'll know exactly who to eat first, and it will help those of us smart enough to survive know who to take in to our camps, and who to leave outside as bait.
The old gene pool has needed some chlorine for a while now....
They have to try something. The Pizza Hut in my area is dark, nasty looking, and have horrible food. They don't bother to honor "any toppings" for a certain price.
The last pizza we were foolish enough to try (hoping for improvement ) made us ill.
I guess we could use it to attract flies .
Well just another thing I never thought I'd live the day to see..or want to
Pillsbury Dough Boy might "get a rise" if Little Debbie or Aunt Jemima wore some.
Just stand in a Pizza Hut long enough while they make your pizza, and you'll get the "benefits" of this "perfume" for free.
I did see a pizza soap at a craft show.
Also, White Castle did a hamburger candle a few years back. Demand was high, like w/ Pizza Hut, so they went into full production. I think some of the profits went to charity. I got to smell one. Top note - onion!
Karen Post is clearly a hack who would try to convince you your snot makes coleslaw.
Nonsense Free Zone has some hilarious political jokes and also about PH's perfume. Priceless.