Papa John's Snapchat lens boosted pizza orders 25% for Valentine's Day

Brief:

Papa John's pizza boosted ad awareness 6% among its customers with an augmented reality (AR) lens on Snapchat last Valentine's Day, per details parent company Snap shared with Mobile Marketer. The lens let users of the image-messaging app create Papa John's-themed pictures to share with friends and order pizza directly.
More than 25% of Snapchat users who swiped up on the AR lens bought a pizza, according to internal tracking data from Snap.
Papa John's also printed Snapcodes on its pizza boxes to activate the AR experience. Sixty percent of lens views unlocked with the Snapcode were from unique users, per a case study video about the campaign that Snap shared.

Insight:

Papa John's love-themed campaign for Valentine's Day boosted awareness and direct orders as the pizza chain worked with Snapchat to create an immersive experience. The AR filter overlaid heart-shaped pizzas on Snapchat selfies, urging people to share humorous pictures with their loved ones on the image-messaging app.

Despite the positive results from the Valentine's-themed campaign, Papa John's reported a 12% drop in revenue during the first quarter from a year earlier. The pizza chain has worked to improve sales and boost its reputation after founder John Schnatter triggered a wave of negative publicity. He resigned as chairman of the board last year, and the company removed his image from its marketing materials. Last month, Papa John's named Rob Lynch, former Arby's president, as CEO.

Other quick-service chains have added AR features to their apps to entertain customers and position their brand as innovative and top-of-mind. Jack in the Box last month sponsored an AR lens on Snapchat that urged customers to personalize their hamburgers. Burger King in March let mobile users in Brazil earn a free Whopper for virtually setting fire to the ads of its rivals.

AR lenses and filters have endured as popular features of Snapchat, helping to drive usage and ad revenue for marketers. The company last year said about 70 million users interact with AR lenses on the app everyday. Sony Pictures and HBO are among the entertainment brands that have included Snapchat's AR features in their campaigns targeting young adults and teens.