MUMBAI: Pizza Hut turned a national pizza habit on its head this week—and left ketchup bottles sweating. In an audacious twist to Indian food culture, the brand rolled out its ‘Ketchup’s Out, Juicy’s In’ campaign, asking pizza fans to trade in their beloved ketchup sachets for a taste of its new Juicylicious range.
The result?
Long queues, empty pizza racks, and an internet that just couldn’t stop talking.
The offer was simple: give up a ketchup sachet at any Pizza Hut store and walk away with a free Juicylicious pizza. Over 2,400 pizzas flew out of ovens across key cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore—100 pizzas per store, per day. The experiment quickly made waves on Instagram and even trended on Google Search, as consumers queued to test whether saucy pizzas could truly exist sans ketchup.
The campaign drew on a sharp consumer insight—that for many Indians, ketchup is the band-aid for dry, underwhelming pizzas. With its new Juicylicious lineup, Pizza Hut aimed to end that dependency.
And judging by the queues, the crowd was hungry for change.
To spice things up further, comedienne Jamie Lever joined the party. Her cheeky takes on the ketchup break-up lit up Instagram, making for a humorous—and surprisingly relatable—slice of content.
The Juicylicious range stars juicy paneer and chicken toppings marinated in three flavour-packed sauces: bold Kadhai, aromatic Royal Spice, and fiery Southern Chilli. Layered with 100 per cent authentic mozzarella and baked on a crisp crust, the new pizzas aim to eliminate the need for add-ons.
As Pizza Hut pushes for a cleaner break from ketchup culture, Indian pizza lovers seem ready to embrace a saucier, bolder slice. For more, check out the original campaign video here and Jamie Lever’s reel here.