At first blush, it might look like a trio of neatly stacked compartments of fat, salt and calories. But the new Pizza Hut Triple Treat Box is actually a miniature cardboard taboret.
Doesn't that sound better?
The chain's holiday-themed packaging stunt, which looks like a wrapped gift, contains two pizzas, bread sticks and an oversized chocolate chip cookie, all for $20. It's a limited-time, while-supplies-last deal, debuting for hectic year-end schedules and out-of-town guests, provided no one's too concerned about eating their greens.
The product launched this week. Next Monday, a TV spot will begin airing, and it puts former USC quarterback Matt Leinart and a well-known pop star in the same improbable pizza-night scenario.
Leinart tosses a football outside the family home, while the singer—OK, it's Michael Bolton—hides out in the kitchen's pantry. When the Triple Treat Box arrives, a reindeer shows up in the hallway ... and Bolton bursts into "Jingle Bells" with a couple of backup singers.
What happened to Leinert? No pizza for him?
Then come the leggy dancers in Santa suits, who materialize out of nowhere, likely to provide a distraction so Bolton can put the moves on Mom. Mistletoe moment denied!
This isn't the first time Pizza Hut has gotten creative with its boxes. Just months ago, it transformed them into film projectors for a summer promotion in Hong Kong (detachable lenses, QR codes and smartphones were involved).
Pizza Hut promises more ads with "an assortment of celebrities" yet to come.