Calling cash-savvy pizza lovers: Pizza Hut will give you a free combo if you become a TikTok microinfluencer and hype their latest product. This marketing move is a grab at super low-cost virality, with the Hut doling out around $7 to each customer who makes a video. That’s a lot cheaper than it’d pay for a post from an influencer.
Before we get too much further, we’ve gotta tell you this deal is only valid for customers in the United Arab Emirates. (Sorry.) But, if it proves capable of starting a viral moment for Pizza Hut, we suspect it’ll probably be brought to other markets.
Ahmed Sabri, Pizza Hut’s marketing lead for the Middle East and Pakistan, told Arabian Business the company is offering this deal because social media buzz “is quite literally becoming a currency in today’s world.”
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“So far, it’s been accessible only to those who have a large following,” Sabri added. “With this promotion, we’re opening it up for everyone and anyone. No matter who you are, what you do, or how many followers you have, you can use your content to pay for Pizza Hut’s My Box.”
Turning everyone into a Hut-hyping microinfluencer is an innovative move, and one that follows in the footsteps of organic trends, like viral videos about Taco Bell and Chipotle hacks that drove significant traffic to those brands. Those were unpaid for, and just stemmed from the fact that people found a cool culinary hack and wanted to share it. Whether Pizza Hut can pay for that same fervor remains to be seen.
In order to get their free meal, a UAE resident has to buy a My Box meal (Pizza Hut’s newest menu addition, a customizable combo with options like personal pizzas, wings, and fries), then “Film a creative video of yourself featuring any TikTok trend you like and a Pizza Hut My Box,” Pizza Hut says.
Then they have to post the vid publicly, @ tagging and following TikTok’s UAE account, and hashtagging the post #YourTermsYourConditions. With all that done, Pizza Hut will DM the person a code to get a free My Box.
We’re curious how the Federal Trade Commission would rule on this practice if it were to come to the United States. The FTC’s rules on influencer marketing and compensation cover posts being paid for with any material currency or item, including free product. Since Pizza Hut makes it pretty clear the goal is to get everyone to be an influencer, would anyone doing this in the U.S. have to hashtag their post #ad? It’s interesting to think about, especially if more brands start doing promotions like this.
For now, though, we’ll be keeping an eye on TikTok, waiting to see whether the Hut will get a slice of the virality it’s seeking.
