Dive Brief: 

• Papa Johns launched a new platform called “Meet the Makers” dedicated to highlighting its team members and the quality of its ingredients, according to a press release. 
• “Meet the Makers” includes tie-ups with food influencers and real Papa Johns team members, who will share behind-the-scenes content through various video spots. Consumers will also be introduced to staff as they take over the brand’s social channels. 
• The platform, which will also support menu promotions, spans national TV, paid online media and organic and paid social. The effort, handled by The Martin Agency, is the first creative work under CMO Jenna Bromberg, who joined Papa Johns in November. 

Dive Insight: 

Papa Johns is again aligning its marketing with its longstanding “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” slogan with its latest brand platform. The effort showcasing its team members and pizza is the first under CMO Bromberg, who is tasked with overseeing Papa Johns’ marketing strategy, brand development, digital customer experience and creative initiatives. Before Papa Johns, Bromberg held positions at Carter’s and Pizza Hut. 

The first video spot under “Meet the Makers” showcases a high-energy Papa Johns kitchen and the enthusiasm placed behind each step of the pizza-making process. A second video further showcases the personalities from the anthem spot.

Additional creative will come from partnerships with Papa Johns team members and food influencers. Included is a tie-up with team member and TikTok star Jacob Bartoli, known as Doughtoli, who helped kick off “Meet the Makers” in a TikTok post by showing how he turned a stuffed crust into a Papa Johns Epic Stuffed Crust. The brand will also support its menu promotions through the platform, beginning with a 15-second spot highlighting a national offering for its Epic Stuffed Crust. 

Papa Johns’ latest brand platform was created in partnership with The Martin Agency, which was appointed the chain’s national creative agency of record in December 2023. The platform sees the company continuing to lean into brand building in an effort to grow loyalty. Last spring, Papa Johns launched a “Better Get You Some” brand platform that was designed to showcase the ways its “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” slogan comes to life both through its ingredients and through the lives of its supporters.

A new marketing platform could help Papa Johns in its ongoing efforts to break out of a slump, with comparable sales in North America declining 4% year over year in Q4, per an earnings report. The chain also reported a 4% YoY decline in comparable sales in North America for the full year of 2024 versus the year-ago period. As part of its bounce-back efforts, the company last year rolled out the second phase of a “Back to Better” initiative in a bid to revitalize the brand.