Pizza Hut print playable packaging

Pizza Hut have harnessed the power of packaging putting their own spin on interactive print technology courtesy of UK print electronics design company Novalia.

Novalia used conductive ink to create a playable pizza DJ deck with touch-sensitive decks including two turntables, a cross-fader, pitch volumes, cue buttons and the ability to rewind your music.

The conductive ink allows you to scratch and mix simply by tapping and sliding your fingers over the controls. The box is battery powered and connects to a computer or smartphone via Bluetooth.

Novalia specialise in fusing print with technology creating an interactive experience, blending ‘science with design to create experiences indistinguishable from magic’.

We play in the space between the physical and digital using beautiful, tactile printed touch sensors to connect people, places and objects. Touching our print either triggers sounds from its surface or sends information to the internet.

Launched in partnership with grime artist P Money and Rise FM DJ Vectra, Pizza Hut offered customers a chance to get their hands on a set of decks simply by ordering a pizza from five select huts. DJ Vectra said:

When Pizza Hut Restaurants asked me if I’d like to be the first to perform using the playable DJ Pizza Box, it was a no-brainer. It takes a while to get your head around the fact you’re controlling a mix through a cardboard pizza box but it’s crazy just how responsive and sensitive the controls are.

A Pizza Hut spokesperson said:

Music and food is the ultimate combo – we know our customers love listening to their favourite tunes over a pizza and we’ve now given our collection customers the chance to combine and enjoy the two in the most innovative way.

By directing customers to their Twitter account for clues to the hut locations, Pizza Hut created a multi-platform campaign harnessing the power of print to combine and connect the electronics and digital technologies to capture the attention of their millennial audience.

So how does it work?

1. Plug in flat DJ Decks battery (included with box) into cardboard slot

2. Connect decks to your smartphone using Bluetooth

3. Download any DJ software from the App Store or Google Play Store

4. Use the ‘MIDI’ feature within the DJ software to sync the corresponding buttons from your pizza box to those on your phone screen (e.g. the volume controls will be the same on both).

5. Simply choose your two songs to mix and away you go. You can use your iTunes or Spotify libraries to source your music.