Offline Hour
Pizza Hut META
Issue 59 | June 2021
Agency
M&C Saatchi UAE
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Ryan Reed Creative Director: Ben Lees Associate Creative Director: Jason Velasquez Burayag Art Directors: Ben Lees, James Swift, Hani Douaji Copywriter: Jason Velasquez Burayag
Production Team
Developer: Mohammad Dohadwala
Other Credits
Client Team: Beverley D'Cruz, Gaurav Sinha, Hanna El-Amrawi, Srikanth Tirupathi, Khaled Al Masri, Nico Rozario CEO: Scott Feasey Managing Director: Natalie Cooke Account Management Team: Caroline Wylie, Nadine Inja Social Media Team: Mitch Williams, Merrihan El-Shazly, Ahmed Taha, Anoop Ashok
Date
March 2021
Background
As the UAE geared up to join millions of people across the world in raising awareness of the issues facing the planet, Pizza Hut offered customers an alternative, but just as impactful, way to get involved – other than just having to turn off their lights.
Idea
With its Offline Hour campaign, Pizza Hut encouraged people in two countries to disconnect from the internet during Earth Hour in order to win a free pizza. The campaign ran through a website that only works offline with no data, no WiFi and a bit of internet sorcery. Special code built into the back end allows the site to detect when users have no active internet connection and reveal a 60-minute countdown timer. If users go back online, the timer stops and they'll be prompted to go back offline in order to claim a free pizza.
Why disconnect? In the US alone, data centers consume 8 billion kWh more annually than household lighting. It's a number that is growing proportionally with our reliance on internet-connected devices. With this in mind, Pizza Hut urged its customers to disconnect from the internet by turning off WiFi and data to reduce network and data center load, potentially saving more energy than turning a light switch off.
Pizza Hut Offline Hour went live in the UAE and Oman markets last March 27, 2021 during Earth Hour and saw hundreds of participants go offline for a whole hour to get their free pizza.
Results
The campaign ran in two countries where over a thousand people participated. Out of which, 200 people completed an entire hour offline. 60 free pizzas, one for every minute of Earth Hour, were given out in each market.