Pizza Hut: Social media is about ‘playing the long game’

Social is the “the first screen” – or in some cases “the only screen” – for many consumers, according to Pizza Hut UK and Europe CMO, Jana Ulaite.

Speaking today (8 October) at the first Grown Up Social Club event hosted by social creator agency Supernova, Ulaite explained the approach to social has evolved beyond being a “checkbox” as the role of social in society has evolved. She used the example of Pizza Hut’s own social content, which is created to be social-first, rather than cut downs of campaigns.

“Right now, we’re in a completely different place. There are businesses being built on social and social is at the centre of the conversation,” said Ulaite.

For Pizza Hut, social is about “playing the long game”. Rather than being aspirational or highly polished, content is designed for users who go to social to be entertained, learn and find belonging, she explained.

The company’s journey with social is centred around “growing up without growing old”, as Pizza Hut looks to reach its communities in an authentic manner.

It’s really hard now to actually have a very authentic brand when you’re in this sea of brilliant, enigmatic, engaging creators who are all trying to make a living off this.

Georgia Scott, Monzo

“You can press a boost button and get engagement. You can control that and control how much money you put behind it. But there isn’t a boost button for emotions and for trust and for connection,” Ulaite said.

Head of brand and marketing at secondhand tech marketplace Back Market, Luke Forshaw, agreed that social is now seen as a “respected format” offering good reporting credentials, which enables marketers to prove its strength to the wider business as a “credible marketing outlet”.

Fellow panellist, Monzo director of integrated marketing and operations Georgia Scott, agreed that over the past three years more companies are convinced social is a credible format. She noted the latest shift has been towards “personality-led social”, driven by creators.

“It’s really hard now to actually have a very authentic brand when you’re in this sea of brilliant, enigmatic, engaging creators who are all trying to make a living off this,” said Scott.

She noted a “slight erosion of trust in social channels for brands”, particularly within financial services, as creators are offering money advice on various platforms and audiences often feel “overwhelmed”, unsure who to trust.

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To combat this, Scott urged brands to think about creating trust among key audiences, whether that’s through customer service or response times, describing it as a mix of “speed, scale and quality”.

She explained being reactive isn’t always the best answer for brands, as it can further erode trust.

“It is staying true to your North Star of who you are as a brand and what rings true,” said Scott.

As a refurbished tech brand, trust is a key issue for Back Market. Working with creators and influencers in the UK, particularly over the last 18 months, has helped the business shift perceptions away from people thinking refurbished tech means broken or stolen.

“We’re working with people that have got their own audience, they’ve got their own tone of voice, they’ve got their own way of doing things and their audience trusts what they say. Essentially, it’s coattails that we can ride on,” said Forshaw.

Ulaite agreed “trust isn’t an overnight metric”, and is driven by social listening and brands continuously showing up for their community. For her, social is about having the ability to move at the “speed of culture”. However, the Pizza Hut UK CMO acknowledged brands shouldn’t “jump on every single conversation” or they risk becoming a follower.

“You want to be a leader, you don’t want to always be a follower,” she said.

‘Cultural translators’

Forshaw claimed sales and traffic spikes can arise from well-executed social, but any reactive content needs to be “prepped” by everyone in the company to ensure folloers don’t have a “cheap experience”.

“When you do want to act on a [social] opportunity, it’s not just a social approach that goes out, there’s going to be a knock-on effect,” he said.

Back Market’s “jovial” content reacting to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs drove “huge social following”, “massive” sales and repeat customers as it was a topic the community wanted to engage with, Forshaw explained. 

Looking ahead to 2026, Ulaite sees creators as being “cultural translators” who have “made social what it is today”. She said they need to be “nurtured” and given a voice.

Back Market is working on an ambassador programme, pairing its influencer approach with a greater focus on CRM, on-site content and SEO. Monzo is focusing on its audience segmentation for social to understand how, for example, the difference in approach needed for LinkedIn versus TikTok.

“For 2026, it’s how can I actually do a much better job of connecting the data points to understand people’s journeys better? More importantly, how can I learn from social to inform all my other marketing channels and how do I do a much better job of synthesizing that?” Scott added.