August 2004

Zayed Khan, the young star ruling the Bollywood roost will soon be endorsing the worlds best pizzas, only at Pizza Hut. In a landmark move, Pizza Hut today roped in Zayed Khan, as its first ever brand ambassador in India. The tie up is part of Pizza Huts strategy to reach out to a broader customer base. Currently acknowledged as an international brand with an Indian heart, roping in Zayed is a step forward in establishing Pizza Huts commitment to the Indian community. Pizza Hut has an aggressive growth strategy in India, reaching out to a wider customer base by scaling up its presence from the present 73 restaurants in 19 cities to over 100 restaurants by 2004 end.

Said Mr. Pankaj Batra, Director Marketing, Indian Subcontinent, Yum! Restaurants International (Pizza Huts parent company), India is one of the most important markets for Pizza Hut and this association with Zayed Khan further reinforces our commitment towards India" on the signing up of Zayed as brand ambassador. Globally Pizza Hut has used international celebrities to represent the brand. With this tie-up, Zayed Khan now joins the league of Pamela Anderson, Cindy Crawford, Mohammed Ali and Mikhail Gorbachev becoming the brand ambassador of Pizza Hut.

Adds Mr. Batra, Zayed is a perfect fit for Pizza Huts brand ambassadorship. The ultimate youth icon, Zayed is representative of youthfulness, energy and fun. This is in line with the brand personality of being fun and friendly while offering the promise of the good times over great pizzas.

The unrivaled leader of the Indian pizza industry, Pizza Hut currently has 73 restaurants in over 19 cities. Having created a substantial presence across major cities in the country, Pizza Hut is aggressively extending its customer base by entering newer and smaller markets scaling up to 100 restaurants by the end of this year. In line with being relevant to India, Pizza Hut has successfully localized its product offerings creating local flavours like Tandoori, etc. Located at Ahmedabad, Surat and Chowpatty, India is also home to the only 100% vegetarian restaurants in the world. Pizza Hut has also been adjudged as the 15th most trusted food service brand in Brand Equity Most Trusted Brands Survey and is the only Super Brand in the restaurant service category to be featured in the Super Brands Book 2004.