Pizza Hut seems to be going through an identity crisis. The long-established pizza restaurant chain has been referring to itself in marketing messages, pizza boxes and signage (as pictured) as The Hut. Because the company sells more than just pizza now, I do see that it's more fitting to refer to itself using a name that doesn't pigeonhole the company into pizza when in fact it also serves pasta, wings, and more. Makes total sense. Clarity in a brand is always a good thing, especially for consumers. A name sets expectations for the brand. If it's called Pizza Hut, you expect it to serve pizza. If there's more on the menu, you expect it to be not as good as the pizza. Of course the company might be faced with questions whether The Hut sells huts... but if Pizza Hut wants you to know that their pizza, pasta, and wings are all equally good, then Pizza Hut is no longer a fitting name. From a branding perspective, the brand positioning and focus has changed, so a name change makes sense.
The only problem is - they haven't made the name change. The Pizza Hut name still remains very much in play on the website, advertising, marketing materials, etc, at the same time as The Hut is being used. The Pasta Hut moniker has been used as well. Add WingStreet to the mix and all clarity goes out the window. The company has no clear identifier and no clear standards of use of its various names, nicknames, and sub-brands.
What seems to be missing is a brand that is a strong foundation behind whatever marketing promotions the company may have. Marketing promotions express messages focusing on certain aspects or products, and Pizza Hut seems to have tied their brand too closely to the promotions. When pushing their wings in 2003, they created a sub-brand called WingStreet that actually was positioned as its own restaurant under the Pizza Hut roof. When pushing their pasta, they temporarily changed its name to Pasta Hut for a PR-bait April Fools' joke in 2008. And now, they included pizza, pasta, and wings under the all-encompassing The Hut roof while still using the Pizza Hut name. They've confused marketing promotions with brand names and, in turn, confused the heck out of consumers.