A Korean government agency recommended that pizza restaurants should provide nutritional information for their customers. Pizza Hut Korea (PHK) took this opportunity to not only provide the information, but also further build up its reputation as a company which is concerned with balanced nutrition.

Dispelling the deep rooted perception that pizza contains high calories, PHK developed a strategy to show the low calorie content and balanced nutrition that a slice of pizza had by comparing it to an apple: 119 Kcal vs. 171 Kcal.PHK’s primary target was females in their 20s, the largest consumer group and the most concerned with their diet. The company used the media and various in-store POPs, each carrying an Apple Mark with the tagline of “a slice of pizza lighter than an apple.” An exit survey showed that 13 percent of the female respondents in their 20s strongly agreed that “PHK is a company concerned with the health of its customers.” Converted into a 7-point scale, this was equivalent to 4.07, compared to a 3.5 in its previous survey. Twenty percent strongly agreed that they can enjoy pizza more comfortably now knowing its low calories and other nutritional information available for them.

A powerful visual mark and tagline were developed to be used in the “Apple Mark Project.” The mark combines the shape of an apple with the ‘less than’ (>) symbol, and is paired with the tagline “At Pizza Hut, there is pizza lighter than an apple.” The mark and tagline went directly with every POP display and menu, and indirectly to all publicity material for two months from June 2008.In-store programTwo types of vertical banners and table tents were developed to be hanged and placed in major PHK stores. Menus were reproduced to accommodate nutritional information and illustrate the calorie equivalency to an apple. All teammates carried Apple Mark badges. PublicityA “Nutrition Kit”, illustrating the nutritional elements contained in a slice of pizza, was developed to be distributed to local media with a press release informing the introduction of nutritional information for PHK pizza.

The press release was picked up by major newspapers and women’s magazines. They also carried the Apple Mark, focusing on the nutritional information and the calorie issue. Network TV channels showed the banner and new menu with the Apple Mark in their morning news program.An exit survey conducted in July 2008 showed 13 percent of respondents in their 20s strongly agreed that “PHK is a company concerned with the health of its consumers.” Converted into a 7-point scale, this resulted in a 4.07, compared to a 3.5 in its previous survey. Twenty percent of the respondents strongly agreed that they can enjoy pizza more comfortably now with the calorie and the nutritional information available for them.Fresh Gourmet Pizza, which was compared to an apple during the campaign, recorded the highest sales in July 2008 since its introduction in May 2008, contributing 10 percent of PHK’s total pizza sales.