Pizza Hut is hoping to repeat its last year’s Super Bowl results, a record-breaking sales day, by providing fans with a ready-made bracket on mobile to make the game more interesting.

The pizza delivery retailer is capitalizing on the long-standing tradition held during Super Bowl parties of consumers setting up brackets to bet on the game’s scores. Partnering with Yahoo, Pizza Hut is sponsoring a bracket platform of which users can use during the Big Game for bragging rights.

“Last year, Pizza Hut hit a digital sales record during the Big Game, with fans going to the brand’s different digital ordering options,” said Kathy Kayse, vice president of sales strategy and solutions at Yahoo. “This year, Pizza Hut is partnering with Yahoo for the launch of Squares Pick’em.

“This new game on Yahoo is a fun, creative way for Pizza Hut to connect with passionate fans and potential customers around a major sporting event,” she said. “Sports fans can enjoy some Pizza Hut pizza and play Squares Pick’em this year!”

Partnership
Yahoo is introducing the Yahoo Fantasy Sports Squares Pick’em game, which can be accessed on the fantasy division’s Web site or mobile application.

The game allows users to pick out a variety of random boxes on the bracket. Once picking is complete, the platform automatically generates numbers to line to top and left side of the bracket.

At the end of each quarter the winner will be the one who’s square is located at the intersection between the two numbers. For instance, if the first quarter’s score is 6 to 7, the winning player is the one with the box that aligns with 6 points for the first team and 7 points for the second team.

The points have to be in the correct order as well. If the points are reversed and not the correct teams, the box is not a winner.

Last year, Pizza Hut’s digital properties broke records for the number of deliveries ordered on Super Bowl Sunday, while also the Yahoo Sports Fantasy platforms saw more users than ever at one time. This year, for Super Bowl LI, the two are pairing together to drive use and sales.

Pizza Hut branding will appear on display ads, search and email promotion for the Squares Pick’em game. Blogs Shutdown Corner, RotoArcade and other NFL content will feature advertising and sponsored content for the game from Yahoo.

Pizza Hut innovations
The pizza retailer also has been heightening competition with Domino’s extensive mobile ordering capabilities by capitalizing on the growing interest in conversational commerce with a chatbot for ordering food delivery.

Customers are now able to order pizza the same way they would originally, with a phone call to the nearest Pizza Hut location, but in a more natural and modern manner aligned with how consumers are behaving today. Twitter and Facebook Messenger users are able to use a chat service to order new or saved orders directly to their home, without having to place a phone call (see more).

Pizza Hut has a long history of integrating with sports, as delivery pizza and sports go well together. The retailer also recently hosted a collaborative contest with ESPN that invited consumers to nominate their fantasy draft team’s commissioner for a prize and simultaneously orders a pizza to sweeten their football-viewing experiences.

The Commissioner of the Week contest, which Pizza Hut and ESPN host yearly, asks fantasy football lovers to nominate their team’s commissioner for a slew of sports-themed prizes. The mobile-optimized site on which nominations were submitted also features an order now button, which users can leverage to purchase food for their viewing parties (see more).

“We know the sports viewing experience is changing, and at Yahoo we’re focused on bringing sports fans new ways to get involved,” Ms. Kayse said. “Squares Pick’em on Yahoo Sports is a unique fantasy sports experience that offers a digital twist on a popular game-day tradition.

“It’s the first digital game of its kind on Yahoo Sports and we’re excited to be partnering with Pizza Hut to bring this new experience to sports fans across desktop and mobile devices,” she said. “Pizza Hut will also be featured in display, search and email advertising to drive sign ups for the Squares Pick’em game ahead of the most watched sporting event of the year. ”