In January 2023, YouTuber Airrack partnered with Pizza Hut to promote the return of "The Big New Yorker" in unusual fashion—by breaking a Guinness World Record. The return of the XL pizza style after over 20 years off the market was a momentous occasion, and innovative content creator Airrack approached the brand with an equally big proposal: help him reach 10 million followers, and help Pizza Hut secure a Guinness World Records title.
For a recent CreatorIQ webinar on ROI, we spoke with Elyse Slayton, Pizza Hut’s Director of Advertising, and got insight into the story around this campaign. Other guest experts included Brian Salzman, the founder of Pizza Hut's agency RQ, and Katy Coffield, the founder of agency Foodie Tribe.
In today's digital landscape, ROI has become a critical factor for brands, leading them to explore how leveraging creators can yield remarkable results. Pizza Hut's activation with Airrack offers an example of how brands can use creator-led marketing to reach the next level.
"The best ideas are when you can't divorce the brand from the idea."
—Elyse Slayton, Pizza Hut's Director of Advertising
You Can't Have ROI Without Relationships
It started with an ask. On social media, Airrack declared his intention to throw the world's largest pizza party upon reaching his 10 million follower milestone—as long as Pizza Hut was willing to partner with him. Pizza Hut allocates a certain portion of its budget to open-to-spend dollars, so the brand was in a position to pursue this off-the-cuff opportunity with the support of its agency RQ, a CreatorIQ client.
Airrack's proposal gave Pizza Hut a chance to build on organic enthusiasm about the brand, and to foster relationships with fresh creators. The campaign included a pizza party hosted at the YouTube Theater, where musician Yung Gravy performed. Both this party and the later unveiling of the world’s largest pizza were content-rich events, sparking creator activity and plenty of PR and media coverage. Additionally, Pizza Hut whitelisted Airrack's content to promote on the brand's organic channels and use it for paid ads.
The surface area of the record-breaking pizza was approximately 14.0k square feet, but that wasn’t the campaign’s only impressive result. The fanfare around the campaign sparked $6.9M EMV for Pizza Hut in January, up 47% month-over-month. The brand also experienced 7.1M in engagement, up from 1.4M in December, while Pizza Hut’s estimated impressions hit a staggering 128.7M in January alone. These stats don't include the brand’s ROI from leveraging the campaign assets across the marketing ecosystem.
“One of the great things about what Pizza Hut did with Airrack is that it was mutually beneficial. It was like, what can we do for you? How can we be a part of your growth? How can we be the tool for you to get more followers, to get more awareness, to get more relevancy?”
—Brian Salzman, Founder of RQ
Being attentive to the goals your creator partners might have, and where your company might stand to benefit, results in winning, mutually beneficial relationships.
Fueling ROI with Creator-Led Marketing
To understand the full impact of creator-led marketing, we surveyed over 100+ influencer marketers in our recent survey, Can Creator-Led Marketing Really Drive ROI?
We found that 67% of respondents reported increasing their investment in influencer marketing from 2022 to 2023. Our agency client Foodie Tribe, for example, shared a story about Florida Milk, whose marketing budget surged 200%, with all of that increase going toward influencer marketing.
Additionally, our survey found that only 24% of brands that increased their influencer marketing budget had a net-new budget, indicating that a majority of respondents funded their influencer marketing by reallocating resources from other marketing functions. For brands that increased their influencer marketing spend, 76% redirected funds from other marketing activities.
The Most Effective Campaigns Are Creator-Led
“What's happening now is that creator content is infiltrating way more than just social media. Creator content is taking over most of the comms from a brand perspective. We say in real life that you are who your friends are, and I think it's the exact same thing from a brand perspective. It's not about brands telling people how great they are—it's about other people telling each other how great the brand is. And that really only happens when you have that real relationship with people.”
—Brian Salzman, Founder of RQ
Creator-led marketing is often perceived as a top-of-funnel activity, but its impact extends far beyond that. An overwhelming 94% of organizations interviewed for our survey claimed that they could at least partially attribute sales to creator content shared on social media platforms.
Creators play a vital role in driving these marketing activities, as they inspire both consumers and brands alike. A remarkable 77% of brands and agencies reported actively transforming organic fans into brand partners, ensuring authentic content from individuals already passionate about the brand. Furthermore, 76% of organizations utilized user-generated content (UGC) in their paid advertising campaigns over the past year.
Pizza Hut’s budget structure fostered the opportunity to form a partnership with an organic fan. The brand’s budget for influencer marketing includes a base layer, which focuses on various product releases, while another always-on portion goes toward honing relationships with their Hut Crew. Finally, an open-to-spend pool allows Pizza Hut to be nimble, and seek out creator-centric ideas that expand the brand's reach.
Pizza Hut x Airrack = ROI Dream Team
"Three years ago, influencer was a tactic and a channel, and we just allocated a certain amount to it. Now, influencer is a piece of PR. It's a piece of our paid content. It is a piece of how we engage on our channels…The time and calories my team spends on influencer marketing has increased 3x over the past two years."
—Elyse Slayton, Pizza Hut's Director of Advertising
Pizza Hut's partnership with Airrack is a great example of creators’ staying power, and the power of the creator economy as a whole. His fans were used to him pursuing innovative, exciting challenges, and that was part of the value he brought to Pizza Hut. The resulting connection was scalable and authentic—the true keys to creator-led marketing’s impressive ROI.
By redirecting resources from traditional marketing avenues, brands can tap into the power of creators to yield outstanding results. The ability of brands to attribute sales to creator content further solidifies the value of this approach.
For more proof that creator-led marketing is the path to success, read our ROI survey report.
