• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, April 17, 2008

On Tuesday, Pizza Hut led with an uppercut to Domino's jaw, leaving its rubber-legged rival on the ropes but by Wednesday, Domino's had came back with a jab to Hut's solar plexus, sending the competition ... into one for the PR books.

Both companies issued press releases filled with such mathematical equations as "Pizza Mia 3 for $5 deal (12" pizza) is 44% more pizza than Domino's 444 deal (10" pizza)" and per-pie counts of the number of pepperoni slices ("Domino's 10-inch pizzas have 25 pepperoni each, vs. Pizza Hut's Pizza Mia, with only 20 pepperoni").

Pizza Hut on Tuesday: "In a direct comparison with the closest competitor's value pizza, Pizza Mia clearly offers a better deal than Domino's with 44% more pizza. In fact, even if Domino's added a fourth pizza to its deal, three Pizza Mia pizzas would still be more food and a better value."

The rival responds: "We're surprised and delighted that our esteemed competitor has chosen to devote a press release to us. But we must ask--given that a corporation like Pizza Hut spent an entire press release dedicated to talking about size, it makes us wonder: Do they have pizza--or pepperoni--envy?"

Enter the third man in the ring, Michael Solomon, professor of marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. "At the end of the day, I doubt this would have an impact on consumers, who will probably tune it out unless there's something new and worth their while (such as a dramatic price promotion)," he says.

"This is a pretty low-involvement purchase decision that doesn't usually entail much conscious processing or pepperoni envy," says Solomon. "Bigger is better--but only when it's also cheaper."

Ruling: No decision.