Papa John’s: Take a Slice of Our Sales

May 10, 2010 3 Comments by Michael

Late last month #3 pizza chain Papa John’s launched an innovative social media campaign on Facebook coined “Papa’s Specialty Pizza Challenge“. The contest asks fans to design and suggest Papa John’s next specialty pizza, which will be available at locations nationwide. I know…I know…you’ve heard of companies crowdsourcing their customers for ideas in the past.

Here’s the game changer: The contest winner will receive 1% of sales for the 12 month period that his or her pizza is offered following the contest (up to $10,000). The winner also gets free pizza for life.

Before a winning contestant is selected, “Papa” John Schnatter and associates will award $1,000 to 10 semifinalists, whose recipes will be cooked and taste-tested by the Papa and other judges at the pizza giant’s Louisville, Ky., headquarters. The pizza concoctions will be judged on appeal, taste, creativity of the name, and the quality of the story on how the contestant dreamed up the pie.

What a creative way to engage with customers and promote Papa John’s brand and product. Of course, one needs to become a fan of the Papa John’s Facebook page (or “like” the page, as Facebook now terms it) to enter the contest. As a result of the campaign, the company’s fan count has skyrocketed.

More importantly, however, Papa John’s now has a direct line of communication with thousands of current and potential customers via the company’s Facebook page updates and fan messaging. Pure social marketing genius. Keep up the good work Papa.

Related posts:

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  3. Adding a Custom Facebook Tab
  4. To “Like” or Not to “Like”? Now an Ethical Question.
Creative Inspiration
Michael

About the author

Michael is a social marketing enthusiast and owner of CoZiggy.com, co-founder at Unibridge Projects and caretaker of his mischievous dog Jimmy (pictured).

3 Responses to “Papa John’s: Take a Slice of Our Sales”

  1. Adding a Custom Facebook Tab says:
    May 25, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    [...] on Facebook. Check out Pepsi’s “Refresh Everything” tab or our post on Papa John’s “Specialty Pizza Challenge” for good examples of this. Both do an excellent job of using FBML to create a unique Facebook [...]

  2. To “Like” or Not to “Like”? Now an Ethical Question. says:
    June 17, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    [...] job of limiting the use of the like-then-reward approach to big brands such as Nike, Pedigree, and Papa John’s. It will be interesting to see if this tool becomes available to the general public. If so, [...]

  3. Mina Souers says:
    June 19, 2010 at 9:27 am

    Great article.

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