Dive Brief:
- Pizza Hut is adding a digital twist to its 40-year-old Book It summer reading program with a new app that is designed to keep elementary school-aged children engaged in summer reading programs, per a press release.
- The new Book It app, which will be available in app stores beginning June 1, enables parents to set monthly summer reading goals that are geared to their child’s unique abilities. Kids can earn one free Personal Pan Pizza from the QSR chain per month by reaching their goals.
- Pizza Hut first established its Book It summer reading program in 1984 as a way to get students from kindergarten through sixth grade interested in reading. Since that time, more than 70 million children have participated in the program.
Dive Insight:
It is a well-documented fact that children, particularly those of elementary school age, lose a significant amount of learning progress and reading skills over their long summer break. In fact research from ID Tech has shown that by the time children reach middle school, they have lost the equivalent of two years of learning due to this “summer slide.”
Pizza Hut’s Book It initiative aims to combat this decline by supporting students’ summer reading programs. The new app modernizes the program, so parents and kids will remain engaged with reading and the goals throughout the summer.
“With the launch of the BOOK IT! app, we're making it even easier for parents to connect with their kids, set meaningful reading goals and inspire plenty of fun pizza-filled memories with their families,” said Lucila Cuello, chief people and culture officer for Pizza Hut U.S., in a release.
The Book It app release follows another mobile-focused initiative from the brand earlier this year. In March, the company leveraged its status as the official pizza sponsor of the NCAA March Madness tournament to introduce a second-screen mobile companion that used artificial intelligence to offer real-time reactions, hot takes and exclusive offers via Instagram.
Those moves come as Pizza Hut’s parent, Yum! Brands, is pushing to incorporate AI technologies into its business operations around the globe. The company has partnered with Nvidia to integrate the technology into areas including voice-automated order-taking, computer vision enhanced operations and analyzing restaurant analytics, among other uses.
