Our Work
Papa John's Pizza
Playing with the passion for pizza.
We’ve worked with Papa John’s both regionally and nationally for several years and, although we’ve made great strides in brand recognition and awareness, they still need to differentiate from their competitors and stay top-of-mind for customers.
Problem/Opportunity
To break through the noise, zag played off the passion people have for their pizza in a humorous and relatable way. With Twitter wars breaking out over the controversial nature of pineapple and ‘experts’ sounding off on the perfect pizza folding technique — zag developed playful messaging to comment on the high stakes opinions of pizza fans everywhere.
Approach “However you Slice it”
Pineapple belongs on pizza. Don’t @ us.
Eat the crust first? You’re a monster.
Eat everything but the crust? Hey, you do you. (But we’re judging).
The messages zag crafted for the campaign took a strong stance on ‘controversial’ pizza opinions, igniting the passion of pizza lovers and Papa fans. zag paired these messages with fresh photography. Our team coordinated and directed a photoshoot utilizing bright backdrops in colours from Papa John’s wider branding (yellows and greens) to stand out from the brand red. We chose overexaggerated situations to underscore the ridiculousness of the controversial statements (like dropping a whole pineapple on a pizza).
zag applied this quippy approach to several product launches and countless ads throughout 2020.
Execution
- Campaign strategy
- Digital ads including native and Google search and display
- Social media ads
- OOH
- YouTube ads
Results
This campaign was hugely successful in capturing the attention and promoting the action of Albertans. Papa John’s sales increased by over 20% year-over-year during the course of the campaign. Additionally, thanks in part to these efforts, Alberta awareness numbers became some of the strongest in the country.
Testimonial
“The However You Slice It campaign perfectly exemplifies why we choose zag. We were seeing a lull in our sales and zag responded with funny, eye-catching creative and strategic ad placements that resonated with our target audience and built our brand awareness, resulting in a significant boost in sales during and after its run!”
- Teresa Crecy, Perfect Delivery Canada | Papa John’s Pizza
Services Completed
- Strategy
- Design
- Copywriting
- Digital
