WebAR PAC-MAN Box
View the case- Brand
- Pizza Hut
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- Tool
- With
- GSD&M
Objective
Pizza Hut's "Newstalgia" campaign reimagined the brand's arcade-era nostalgia — a memory the chain could no longer offer in its dining rooms — for a modern audience. The game was tied to a $10 Tastemaker pizza, giving the brand a playable reason to buy, and had to reach millions of customers instantly, with no app download required.
Solution
A shopper scans the QR code printed on the side of a limited-edition pizza box, styled to look like an arcade machine's coin slot, and lands on a mobile web page — no app to install. A quick GIF shows how to hold the phone over the box; once the camera locks on, the maze printed on the box lid rises into 3D and Pac-Man starts moving across it in augmented reality. The player steers with an on-screen joystick built to feel like the original cabinet, clearing three levels that climb from casual to hardcore. At the end of a run, a high score can be entered arcade-style with three initials onto a global leaderboard, and players are prompted to post their score on Twitter with the campaign hashtag for a chance to win a custom Pac-Man arcade cabinet.
Results
10.6 million Pac-Man boxes sold, 11,260 hours of total play time, and 741 million media impressions.
- 1
The experience ships on a limited-edition pizza box: the lid is printed with a yellow-and-black PAC-MAN maze, and the side carries a QR code styled as an arcade coin slot.
- 2
The player scans the QR code and the game opens directly in the phone's mobile browser, with no app to install; a landing page plays a short instructional GIF showing how to hold the phone over the box and aim the camera at the printed maze.
- 3
Image recognition locks onto the printed maze and tracks the box in real time, so the game field stays anchored to it as the phone moves; PAC-MAN, dots, and ghosts then appear in 3D on top of the lid, rendered in retro 80s pixel style using original Bandai Namco assets.
- 4
The player picks one of three levels, ranging from casual to hardcore difficulty.
- 5
A touch joystick appears on screen; the player steers PAC-MAN through the AR maze, eating dots and evading ghosts in a loop that mirrors the original arcade game.
- 6
At the end of a run, the player enters three arcade-style initials and is added to a shared Pizza Hut x PAC-MAN leaderboard alongside other customers.
- 7
A prompt invites the player to post their score on Twitter, tagging @PizzaHut with #PizzaHutARcade #Sweepstakes to enter a drawing for a custom Arcade1Up PAC-MAN cabinet; any posted score qualifies, regardless of how high it is.
