The math problems will appear on the Hut Life blog at 8 a.m. ET on March 14, which is informally recognized as National Pi Day, celebrating the irrational number whose first three digits are 3, 1 and 4. The chain chose its blog for the contest to make it easier for consumers to engage. 

?Our Hut Life blog is a hub of activity for the Pizza Hut brand worldwide,? said Courtney Moscovic, senior associate manager of public relations at Pizza Hut. ?We are always sharing unique stories about our restaurants and employees on the blog, so it is a great place for customers to see what life at Pizza Hut is all about. 

?We wanted to use that platform to share the Pi Day problems because it will make it easy for fans to find and answer the problems as opposed to having to scroll through news feeds on social channels,? she said. 

?We?ll be directing our social followers to blog.pizzahut.com to see Professor Conway?s problems and all submissions will be received via the blog comments, which are time-stamped to verify the winners.?

Pizza Hut has partnered with mathematics professor John H. Conway for the math contest. The professor has devised three math problems of varying levels of difficulty that will be released on the Hut Life blog, blog.pizzahut.com, at 8 a.m. on March 14. 

The first consumers to solve and submit the correct answer to any of the problems will have a chance to win 3.14 years of free pizza from Pizza Hut. 

Answers must be provided within the blog comments, which will be time stamped to determine the potential winner. 

Marketers have embraced national Pi Day as a way to connect with consumers around their interest in mathematics and irrational numbers. March 14 is also the birthday of mathematical genius Albert Einstein. 

Marketers embrace blogs?
Pizza Hut is an active mobile marketer that continues to try new strategies for engaging with smartphone users. Over the past couple of years, the chain has aggressively built a digital ordering platform that is mobile driven across several channels (see story). 

The Pi Day campaign shows the chain is also focused on driving mobile engagement. 

Blogs are seeing resurgence in interest from consumers and marketers as consumption of digital content from mobile devices continues to grow. 

Last month, Diamond Foods' Emerald Nuts and vitamin brand Nature's Bounty were among the brands partnering with blog publishers to share sponsored posts on mobile in which influencers recommend products (see story). 

In February, Sun Pacific clementine brand Cuties tied its image to Valentine?s Day through partnerships with bloggers and a social media campaign that entices parents looking for healthier treats for their kids (see story). 

?Mobile is always a priority for our brand because we know that is where our customers are going,? Ms. Moscovic said. ?Last month, on our busiest day of the year, Pizza Hut set a single-day digital sales record and 60 percent of those orders came in via mobile Web or our app. 

?We anticipate that as our customers hear about the Pi Day contest, especially through our social channels, they?ll continue on to our blog ? which is optimized for mobile ? to solve the problems and win free pizza,? she said.