Papa John’s Shows Pivotal Role of Marketing in Rebuilding Brand Image

At the risk of understatement, these have been turbulent years for Papa John’s.

Since its founder and former chairman, John Schnatter, was ousted for using a racial slurOpens a new window during a conference call, the pizza chain has been waging an uphill battle to restore its brand image.

Over the past two years, the company has erased Schnatter’s identity entirely from its logo and advertising, provided comprehensive diversity training to employees across the organization and donated $500,000 to an all-female, predominantly African-American college in North Carolina.

Earlier this year, the pizza giant even added basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal to its board of directors — and made him the new face of the brand. As my colleague Ethan Schrieberg wrote in AprilOpens a new window , it “swapped a controversial racist for a charismatic and widely-beloved African-American celebrity,” a decision he aptly described as an “in-your-face move from a company looking to salvage its tarnished brand and pull itself out of a sales slump.”

So, several months after Papa John’s ramped up its rebranding mission, how is it faring?

Positivity for Papa John

“Now, the company’s executive suite and trajectory are decidedly different” under the management of its new CEO, Rob Lynch, who joined in August, Jessica Wohl notes in AdAge.Opens a new window Lynch himself said the restaurant chain has “begun to turn the corner on last year’s challenges,” referring to the fact that comparable sales in North America were positive for the first time in two years, with third-quarter, same-store sales increasing 1%.

For the second time in three months, the company mildly improved its North American sales forecast for the year, predicting a 1.5-3.5% decline, adjusted from earlier forecasts of 1-4%.

Indeed, it appears that Papa John’s rebranding strategies are paying off. Lynch has been open about the crucial role of the firm’s marketing in its turnaround, especially lately.

He may be looking to show return on the firm’s $5 million marketing spend in the third quarter alone, out of a total $40 million marketing budget through 2020.

Why marketers should care

Papa John’s commitment to investing in its image highlights the increasingly central role a company’s marketing operations must play when rebranding, especially in the wake of a PR debacle.

This is particularly true, Catherine Turner explainsOpens a new window , in today’s social media-influenced business environment because brands are “in the public eye more than ever and social media [gives] consumers a voice to vent their frustrations.”

Andrew MacDougal, senior executive consultant at British PR firm MDLGroup UK, finds that in the digital age a company’s reputation is no longer constructed or spun. Rather, it must be earned.

While social and digital media are key in creating that dynamic, they also intensify the gravity of company mistakesOpens a new window and the focus company boards now place on the media.

For that reason, consumers must be met on the same social and digital channels where they spend their time, engage with each other as well as the brands they buy from and support — and where marketers (not the company’s business developers or salespeople) will find them.

All the goodwill-generating campaigns in the world are useless for rebuilding brand identity and image if consumers aren’t exposed to them.

“The [marketing] industry as a whole is changing how it fits in the age of digital and social,” argues MacDougal. “There’s no longer a news cycle, but a news stream.”

That’s why, ultimately, brand identity and brand image are, first and foremost, marketing projects.

Sure, the business developers will identify what needs to be done operationally. But those decisions must be made with the marketing team’s participation. Marketers know your customers best, which means it’s in a brand’s best interest to use that knowledge to plan a rebrand that will resonate with prospects, customers and the wider public.