Book It!

Anyone else remember the Pizza Hut Book It! program? This has been one of my all-time favorite marketing campaigns pretty much since age 5. It was designed to encourage elementary-age children to read. When reading goals were met, we would receive a coupon for a free personal pan pizza.

The BookIt! program was heaven for kids like me. I read because I loved it, and couldn’t believe I would actually be rewarded with pizza. These days, it would be like someone offering to reward me for sleeping with cash.

When my sister and I came home from school with our pizza certificates in our hot little hands, it meant it was time for a trip to town. We’d pile in the car and head to the nearest Hut, with the two of us ordering our personal pan pepperonis, my parents ordering a large and the four of us splitting a pitcher of pop. The order, the restaurant, the jukebox, the Ms. Pacman – there was never the slightest variation in this beloved routine.

Talk about marketing genius. Every kid in our class and those in all of the schools around ours would bury our noses in our books, and then drag our parents to Pizza Hut. The place was always packed with kids ordering their personal pans. I hardly remember eating anywhere else when I was little, and I loved it.

And here’s the really good news: turns out, Book It! has survived all of these years and they’re currently enrolling classes and kids for the 2009 program. Who knew?