Papa Johns puts US marketing accounts in review

Papa Johns has launched a review of its U.S. marketing agencies. The review will be led by Chief Marketing Officer Mark Shambura along with consultancy Pile and Company. “We express gratitude to our current agency teams for their partnership and the impactful work we have produced together in the past five years,” Shambura said in a statement. “As we look beyond a post-COVID world both Papa Johns and the landscape we operate in have shifted significantly. Papa Johns has evolved as a company, and it’s crucial that our marketing continues to innovate to meet the needs of the company as well as our changing consumer habits. We are taking the opportunity to reassess our partnerships and embrace new perspectives and expertise that will set us up for the next three-to-five-years.” Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here In 2019, the pizza chain named Havas Media as its media agency of record. The same year Camp + King was named creative agency of record. The review will include both accounts. It’s unclear if the incumbent agencies have been invited to defend. Camp + King's ads featured Shaquille O’Neal playing his whole family. Shaq and the new agencies were brought on to help the company recover from reports of its founder John Schnatter using a racial slur during a 2018 training session with then agency Laundry Service and other reports about company culture. “We are looking for partners who will develop breakthrough strategy and creative work, are collaborative with each other, bring a multicultural perspective, and are representative of the communities we speak to,” Shambura said in the release. The agency search will officially begin this month. In 2022, Papa Johns spent $182.6 million on measured media, according to Vivvix, which includes paid social data from Pathmatics. That’s a decline from the $195 million the pizza chain spent in 2021. Shambura joined Papa Johns in May, leaving his previous role as CMO at Mod Pizza. The hope is that Shambura’s “digital-first, analytics-led approach” will help Papa Johns shore up sales. In October 2022, Papa Johns hired former Martin agency executive Jaclyn Ruelle as its VP, head of brand. Like other chains, Papa Johns is dealing with high ingredient and labor costs, coupled with tighter consumer budgets pinched by inflation. The chain’s second-quarter North America comparable sales fell 1%, weighed down by weakness at franchised locations. By comparison, industry leader Domino’s posted a 0.1% increase in its U.S. same-store sales, while rival Pizza Hut reported a 1% increase.

Papa Johns puts US marketing accounts in review

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