Featured image for Pizza Hut's 'Book It!' Is Back, Because No One Outreads The Hut

Pizza Hut's 'Book It!' Is Back, Because No One Outreads The Hut

by Rudy Sanchez on 05/20/2021 | 2 Minute Read

Remember summers when you were a kid? 

For many of us, those warm, school-less, and carefree days often meant all things outdoors, frolicking about at camp with friends perhaps, or kicking a ball around at the park maybe. For others, summer also meant having hours upon hours to dig into books, reading for fun instead of class.

For years, Pizza Hut encouraged kids to read via the Book It! program, and they rewarded children with free pizza after they met set page goals. The pizza chain has now revived the program as part of its “newstalgic” promotion, which previously featured a collaboration with Pac-Man, leaning heavily on the 80s and 90s pizza parlor aesthetic, with The Office’s Craig Robinson serving as the face of the campaign.

Editorial photograph

"The Book It! Program was such an integral part of the heyday of Pizza Hut and the childhoods of those we're reaching with our newstalgia campaign," said Lindsay Morgan, chief marketing officer of Pizza Hut, in a press release. "It's amazing to now be able to make reading fun for the next generation with great pizza, great books, and engaging activities to fill their summer break, especially as uncertainties remain in the coming months."

While the previous iteration ran during the school year and was managed by teachers, this year, Book It! is running through summer directed by parents online. And for parents getting jelly over their kids’ free pizza for reading, fret not, Pizza Hut is also dropping Book It! T-shirts with the program’s old logo.

Sadly, those already sold out, but if you keep endlessly refreshing your screen, you might get a notification about that sweet Book It! drip. Regardless, it's a smart bit of retro-marketing, inspiring kids and parents alike to get back to the Hut.