Pizza Hut Pac-Man Box

Cannes: Shortlist | One Show: Merit, 4 Shortlist | ADC: 2 Merit, 3 Shortlist | AICP Next: Shortlist

Clios: 2 Bronze, Shortlist | Comm Arts: 2 Wins (Design, Advertising), 2 Shortlist (Advertising, Interactive)

National ADDYs: 4 Gold | LIA: Finalist | Webbys: Honoree | FWA: FWA of the Day

Adweek Experiential Awards: Best Use of Mobile in an Experiential Activation

You can’t play arcade games at the Hut anymore, but we wanted to bring that same experience home for millions of Pizza Hut customers. That’s why we created the Hut ARcade, an augmented-reality game of Pac-Man that you can actually play on the box. Partnering with friends at Bandai Namco and Tool of North America, we recreated the game through WebAR, allowing users to play through their mobile browser without downloads. No app. No quarters required.

The Box

At stores nationwide during the month-long campaign, customers who ordered a large pizza received a special edition Pac-Man pizza box. The box was designed to mirror the aesthetic of the classic tabletop arcade game right down to the coin slot, which contained a QR code to initiate gameplay.

The Gameplay

Scanning the QR code opens the experience through a mobile browser. To start play, an instructional GIF directs customers to point their phone at the maze on the box, which serves as an AR marker. Suddenly, the maze animates from the box as Pac-Man, Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde all come to life. The game was designed with three levels of increasing difficulty for casual and hardcore gamers with a global leaderboard that allowed customers to input their initials.

The Grand Prize

To incentivize social sharing, users who shared their scores on Twitter were entered for a chance to win a custom Pizza Hut x Pac-Man arcade cabinet designed by our amazingly talented graphic designer, Stephen Jablonski.

The Results

With 11,260 hours played, 741 million media impressions and 10.6 million Pac-Man boxes sold, this new-stalgia activation rekindled love for Pizza Hut while establishing new connections with younger generations. A Pizza Hut box even became the top-selling game console in the world, outselling the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X…. combined.