Loyalty360 Reads: March 6th, 2018

The latest news in the world of customer experience and customer loyalty.
 
Pizza Hut Brings Back March Madness Shoe That Orders Pizza with Push Button
Now this is Madness. Just in time for March Madness—less formally known as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, that time period when more basketball is played, more gambling takes place and less work is done than any other single month in the year—Pizza Hut is at it again. The nation’s largest pizza chain has once again partnered with renegade shoe manufacturer The Shoe Surgeon to create the first-and-only shoe with a built-in pizza ordering button. According to an article from the “food and wine desk” at BroadwayWorld, the shoe—deemed the Pie Top II—has a button on its tongue that uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the user’s cell phone and order a pizza with one push. This year, the shoe also has a separate button that allows users to pause the TV so they won’t miss any of the action when they have to run to the door and get the pizza. Pizza Hut, which is owned by YUM! Brands, is the official pizza of March Madness and the Final Four. Last week is announced it signed on to become the official pizza of the National Football League as well.
 
New ESPN President Set to Redefine Fan Experience
Running ESPN and being co-char of Disney Media Networks is a daunting task. But James Pitaro now has that awesome responsibility, according to ESPN.com. The announcement came on Monday. Pitaro had been the chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media since 2016. He previously served as a vice president and head of Yahoo! Media, including leading Yahoo! Sports. His appointment is effective immediately. In a news release issued by the Walt Disney Company, the parent company of ESPN, Pitaro said, in part: “The appetite for quality sports content across platforms has never been greater, and I am looking forward to working with the talented ESPN team as we continue to redefine the future fan experience.” Among the first orders of business for Pitaro is the launch of ESPN+, the network's direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service, which launches in the spring. ESPN+ will be part of the ESPN App, which will house all of the company's digital offerings, including news, scores, highlights and authenticated streams of ESPN's domestic U.S. networks. The announcement came less than three months after the resignation of John Skipper, who had been ESPN's president for nearly six years. Skipper resigned on Dec. 18, citing “substance addiction.” Pitaro is a graduate of Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. He has a law degree from St. John's University, and he practiced law at several New York firms before going into media.
 
Lyft Shadows Uber With Rides for Patients
To keep pace with its main competitor, Uber, which launched a service last week that facilitates healthcare providers arranging rides for patients, Lyft followed suit, according to an article in USA Today. The article says that Lyft announced on Monday that it plans to expand its partnerships with healthcare providers to provide the ride-hailing service to doctors and hospitals who want to arrange transportations for patients who can't get to appointments. In a partnership with Allscripts, one of the nation’s leading electronic health records companies, Lyft will integrate its platform into the daily routines of 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 physician practices, and 180,000 physicians, reaching an estimated 7 million patients.

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