Case Studies ❯ Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Literacy Program

Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Literacy Program

Connecting Pizza Hut With Teachers, Students, and Families

Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT!® program is a fun and flexible set of edutainment resources used by teachers in US primary schools. By rewarding accomplishments with praise, recognition (and pizza!) kids can celebrate their reading achievements throughout the year.

The BOOK IT! ® team was looking to support their goal of building brand affinity for Pizza Hut among families, as well as keeping the community outreach program relevant and accessible as consumers move into an age of both digital and traditional communications.

Since 2009, Kidzsmart has partnered with the Pizza Hut team to create the teacher and student resources, as well as the restaurant activity sheets promoting the program.

The Goal

Reach over 14 million students in 38,000 US elementary schools annually with print & digital content promoting literacy goals, and measurable classroom reading targets.

The Challenge

Our contributions to the BOOK IT! ® community outreach program have been ongoing since 2009. The program has evolved over time to include the following program features:

Teachers’ resources
Parent communications
Children’s reading certificates
Reading Journal
Stickers
T-shirt designs
Minute Tracker development

… And other edutainment materials! Digital features have from time to time included author interaction and unlockable features that encourage classrooms to push beyond their reading goals.

The Solution

Pizza Hut looks to Kidzsmart to develop all the BOOK IT! ® community outreach program’s communication materials each year. BOOK IT! ® first featured exclusive characters designed by Kidzsmart, then partnered with Jeff Kinney and the Wimpy Kid series for several years. The annual programs continue to feature popular authors ranging from Kate DiCamillo to Tom Angleberger.

Kidzsmart has also created and maintained the online Minute Tracker website, helping teachers set and track students’ reading goals online. BOOK IT! ® materials require a strong yet unobtrusive Pizza Hut brand presence, balanced with featuring their current literary partner.

The Results

Reaching over 14 million students annually, Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! ® program now boasts its second generation of alumni. The program’s success has continued to grow over the past 13 years Kidzsmart has collaborated with Pizza Hut. Over that time we have seen this program evolve into the digital space, and we’re very excited to meet a new generation of BOOK IT! ® readers.