Eunice Ellis and Shelley Morehead don't do PR by the book, but the pair have nourished Pizza Hut's Book It! program well enough for it to become the largest reading incentive
program for kids in the world. Since its launch in 1985, some 277 million children have enrolled in the classroom-based program, which encourages kids to love reading and rewards
them with free pizza.
By 1997, Ellis and Morehead were exploring new ways to expand Book It! from a K-8 target to younger children. New research from the U.S. Department of Education revealed that
the single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children. Plus, there was a noticeable drop in Book It! enrollment once
kids hit grade 6. Starting them earlier might better hook them into reading. Plans were initiated to target children 3 to 5 years old.
Research and Implementation
The new component of the Book It! program, named Book It! Beginners, would require teachers and parents to read to kids aloud, not simply encourage them to read on their own.
Ellis and Morehead decided to invest in research to find out how early-childhood educators would embrace this. So in the fall of 1997, they set up focus groups in five midwestern
cities. Through direct mail, they recruited a cross-section of early childhood educators: representatives from public and private schools, large and small day care centers, home-
based facilities, Head Start programs and faith-based groups. Twenty-five focus groups with several hundred educators were conducted. Preschool kids, they learned, would gravitate
to program materials that were visual and colorful. Teachers wanted a program that was simple to conduct.
Additionally, Ellis and Morehead worked with the Department of Education, a proponent of their previous reading program successes, to glean more information about the
importance of reading to kids. They compiled advice for parents and teachers on motivating young children to become interested in reading.
Once they hammered out the specifics of how the new program would operate, Ellis and Morehead sent out 30,000 pieces of promotional direct mail, using a purchased list of day
care facilities. They also sent additional targeted mailings to after-school programs, which, according to Morehead, often want to work academic-related activities into their
programs. To build industry buzz, they took out a full-page ad in a trade publication, Early Childhood News, and sent a press release to 1,000 journalists.
The new program, like previous Book It! programs, was optional for all Pizza Hut franchisees (who dole out doughy rewards to kids who complete the program.) Roughly 85% of them
participated during the program's first year.
Reading the Results
Eleven thousand pre-schools and child care facilities enrolled a total of 550,000 students in the program, which kicked off in March, 1998 and ran for eight weeks. Most of the
enrollment came from child care facilities, says Morehead, because after-school programs (like the YMCA) confused promotional materials with ones they had already received about
the original Book It! program targeted to older kids.
The following year, Ellis and Morehead focused their message on facilities that only worked with young children. Enrollment doubled with more than 1 million preschool kids
participating. Also, 100 percent of Pizza Hut franchisees participated. The 2001 Book It! Beginners program, which concluded last month, had participation from 1.5 million
preschool kids in 30,000 schools. That's 30 percent of all licensed child care facilities in this country.
Ellis and Morehead currently launch the program each November to have enough time to process registrants and hit at least eight trade shows annually to promote the program to
educators. "One of the ways we gauge success is that the program continues to grow every year," says Boris Weinstein, a longtime PR consultant who helped launch the original Book
It! program 16 years ago. "We're really exceeding our projected numbers."
(Eunice Ellis, Shelley Morehead,1-800-4BOOKIT; Boris Weinstein, 412/688-7435)
Part of Book It!'s successful branding strategy this year has been Pizza Hut's pursuit of partnership opportunities with high-profile educational media. For example, the 2001
Book It! Beginners program attracted preschoolers' attention by using characters from the popular kids TV show "Arthur and Friends," based on the book series. The 2002 program
will feature characters from a PBS program called "Between the Lions," and 2003 will feature every kid's favorite canine, Clifford the Big Red Dog.
If promoting reading awareness in pre-school isn't' early enough, Pizza Hut is launching a reading program for kids even younger, Book It! Babies. Pizza Hut is sponsoring
research with doctors and health care professionals to explore the benefits of a reading readiness program for infants and babies, ages 0-3.
Campaign Time Frame:
November-April, 1998
Key Players:
Eunice Ellis, Director, Book It!, Pizza Hut
Shelley Morehead, Supervisor, Book It!, Pizza Hut
Boris Weinstein, Consultant, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Investment:
Since 1985, Pizza Hut has invested $277 million in promoting reading awareness
to kids; roughly $1 for every child enrolled in the program. Numbers for the
Book It! Beginners program are not yet available.