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| All Paws On Deck! |
On Thursday, Pizza Hut of Japan released a new installment in their strange but hilarious series of commercials that features some totally unmotivated cats running a fictional Pizza Hut location.
The original “Pizza Cat!” advertising campaign premiered in 2014 and consisted of a total of 13 short videos. The roughly 20-second long videos showcased what it was like working at this very unique Pizza Hut location that was staffed only by cats in Pizza Hut uniforms.
As you can see for yourself in the video below, despite opening up their own pizza shop these cats just weren’t all that interested in the day-to-day tasks that come with running a Pizza Hut, such as making pizza and taking customer orders. Instead, these cats seemed far more into doing things like riding a Roomba around the shop, staring at ringing phones and playing with the cash register.
You can check out the original series of videos below. The playlist begins with the “grand opening” announcement and goes in order through all of the 12 subsequent “episodes.”
The latest installment in the Pizza Cat! series begins with an announcement that the pizza cats will be re-opening on February 22nd, which not coincidentally is also cat day in Japan. Then, it reveals that a new cat named Shinjin has joined the original four cat team of Tencho, Hime, Dora and Detch. The video also shows the first task for the pizza cats, distributing a 22% off coupon. However, as you’ll see, that doesn’t go so well.
Due to the pizza cats’ refusal to distribute the coupons the video ends by asking the viewer to help by becoming a “Pizza Hut Nyanbassador” and distributing digital versions of these coupons via social media. “Nyanbassador” is a combination of the word “ambassador” and nya, which is the Japanese equivalent of “meow. “
In order to become a Pizza Hut Nyanbassador, people must first follow Pizza Hut of Japan on Twitter or Instagram. Then they have to spost/tweet out a picture of a cat doing a “begging pose” hashtag it #ピザハットニャンバサダー (#PizzaHutNyanbassador). These posts will later be able to be used as 22% off coupons at actual Pizza Hut locations.
People who become Pizza Hut Nyanbassadors are sent a digital Pizza Hut Nyanbassador membership card and also entered in a drawing to win a set of Pizza Hut themed cat goods.
This cat-tastic promotional campaign begins February 22nd and will run until March 22nd.
And in case you are wondering, cats are associated with the number two in Japan. This is due to the number two in Japanese (ni) and the sound cats make, nya, sounding similar. This is why cat day is February 22nd (2/22) and why Pizza Hut’s coupon is for 22% off.
Sources: KFC Holdings Japan Ltd., Netorabo, Official Pizza Cat! Website
