“Sales for Domino’s Pizza are 50 percent higher in Japan than they are in the U.S., and it’s all in how the dish is marketed there. In Japan, successful marketing mades Kentucky Fried Chicken the go-to food for Christmas Eve; now Domino’s is pushing for pizza to take the title: Kentucky Fried Chicken was the tradition in Japan. People would get together to eat fried chicken and Christmas cake — it was a common thing,” Mr. Ikeda told Ad Age, through a translator, at the company’s Tokyo headquarters. “So we started driving people to order pizza. Now, people perceive [Christmas Eve] as an occasion to buy fried chicken, get pizza delivered and then eat Christmas cake.

Japanese consumers are also far more concerned about presentation than their American counterparts, so Domino’s came up with rather creative ways to promote its product. For example, a heart-shaped box with the message “Be careful. This pizza and you two are really hot. Don’t get burned!“ for Valentine’s Day. Clever.

Domino’s even got jazzy with the toppings (and price), creating a $50 pizza called the “Prestige Quattro” with four different toppings. Pizza accented by seafood is far more elegant than KFC, right?