Pizza Hut Super Bowl Commercial Brings Back Grandma Drummer

Pizza Hut urged viewers to “Go for Greatness” in their Super Bowl commercial, and just how did they encourage it? They featured YouTube sensation Grandma Drummer! Yup, that’s right! Pizza Hut featured Mary Hvizda, of Onalaska, in their commercial.

The commercial began by showing a clip of Mary drumming away with the announcer saying, “Mary, you march to the beat of a different drummer. In fact, you are that drummer! You’re an old school lady dropping a new school beat!” From there, the announcer claims that Mary inspired Pizza Hut to “lower the boom” on the pizza world.

Mary first made headlines after she walked into The Coalition Drum Shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin and was recorded by store manager Dustin Hackworth. Hackworth later uploaded the video to YouTube, where it went viral. According to a previous report by The Inquisitr, in a matter of days the video racked up more than two million views.

WXOW reported that the “Grandma Drummer,” Mary Hvizda, occasionally goes into the shop to show off her skills to employees and customers. Hackworth told reporters back in July of 2013 that they were blown away. “I’ve never seen someone at that age play at that level.”

When talking to ABC News, Mary said that she stared playing the drums at the age of 15 when her brother got his own set. “He was a drummer and I thought I’d really love to play and drum, and that was my chance.” According to The Inquisitr, Mary’s played in bands like the Chantells and On The Road Again, but she hung up her sticks in the 1990s. After finding out her video went vial, Mary said:

“It makes me proud to think that people still think I’m somewhat good and still think I’m still something they’re interested in watching.”

Hackworth reportedly had a hand in creating the Pizza Hut Super Bowl commercial which featured Grandma Drummer. In fact, Hackworth said that it was Mary’s raw talent that would appeal to a mass audience.

“I think that’s what appeals to many people,” Hackworth said. “The fact that it wasn’t forced. It was us catching talent as it was fleeting away, you know what I mean? So that to me is really cool. We weren’t trying to make something. And it turned out to be something.”

The Pizza Hut commercial encouraged viewers to “Go for Greatness” and, after featuring the skills of Grandma Drummer, they pitched their attempt at going for greatness in their new hand-tossed pizza. By using Mary’s Grandma Drummer video, it was sure to catch a few eyes during the game! Haven’t gotten a chance to view the original Grandma Drummer video yet? Well, join the other 5,205,687 viewers and check it out here!

[Image via Laughing Squid]