Former Arby's marketing exec Bob Kraut has been named Papa John's senior VP-chief marketing officer.
He replaces Andrew Varga, who left Papa John's in March to become president at Zimmerman Advertising, Papa John's lead creative agency. Mr. Kraut was most recently senior VP-brand marketing and advertising at Arby's, but left the company in May, the same time the chain's CMO, Russ Klein left the company.
"Bob has significant restaurant industry experience and has proven himself a progressive marketing executive," said Papa John's President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Thompson. "I am confident in his ability to move the brand forward and to help Papa John's to continue to gain market share."
Mr. Kraut joined Arby's as senior VP-marketing and advertising in December 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile. He came to the chain from Pizza Hut, which he joined in 2006 as VP-marketing communications. Prior to that, he had held senior marketing positions at General Motors since 1995.
Papa John's is the No. 3 pizza chain in the U.S. by systemwide sales, according to Technomic, following category leader Pizza Hut and Domino's. It has 7.3% market share, with $2.4 billion in U.S. sales in 2012. Pizza Hut has 17.1% market share and Domino's has 10.5% share.
Papa John's spent about $118 million on U.S. measured media in 2012, according to Ad Age DataCenter analysis of Kantar Media data. Pizza Hut spent $239 million, while Domino's spent $197.2 million.