Papa John’s, the pizza giant with commercials that feature CEO and founder John Schnatter, announced that its chief marketing officer, Andrew Varga, is leaving.

Here’s some advice to Varga’s replacement: Stop. Stop with low-price promotions, the free giveaways and the overall nonsense that’s permeating the pizza industry.

Schnatter built a successful business with revenues over a billion dollars. But it stubbornly remains in third place behind Pizza Hut and Dominos. All three pizza peddlers make huge sums of money but market share doesn’t shift no matter how many advertising dollars the big three spend.

Why? Because the trio does little more than out-gimmick one another with cut-rate deals.

Let’s see. Right now, Papa John’s offers an $11 large steak-and- cheese pizza, as well as a free pizza with any other large pizza. At Pizza Hut, a dinner box costs just $10 with pizza and bread sticks. But Domino’s beats both with its two-topping pan pizza for $7.99, a medium pizza for $5.99 and half off any pizza ordered online.

How long till one of the chains offers pizza for a buck?

The next Papa John’s CMO should focus on what it means to be a Papa John’s customer. Other than being a lover of cheap pizzas, that is.

I was watching television last night, when, as it seems to run with more than just some regularity, a Papa John’s commercial came on. This blog post could be about the permissions of the Papa John’s brand and how Papa John’s long running “Better ingredients, better pizza” might not be believable.

But let’s talk about Papa John himself. I am sure most of you already know very well whom I am talking about because Papa John includes him in just about every sliver of its marketing.

One of problems with this is whether the personality is relevant to the audience. The question you must ask is whether excessive visibility of a company’s founder creates preference or causes a customer to switch? And talk about commit to that strategy. Go to papajohns.com and John is there on the home page, the special offers page and the view menu page.

There are some corporate personalities that can be equity markers. Steve Jobs was an equity marker for Apple but he never jeopardized the brand by confusing the value of the two as the same.

To build brand equity, a company has to understand the highest emotional intensity in the market and, through messaging and action, control that intensity. If messaging exists to be self-serving, even if you understand the highest intensity, the message will be soft and ineffectual.

The most important thing to remember is, if your brand is about an intensity that exists in the market, that intensity is very easy for consumers to agree with. Personalities, on the other hand, are very easy to like or dislike, simply at face value. Trying to turn a corporate figure into an equity marker can be a dangerous game to play.

Well apparently Pizza Hut and Papa John’s have taken notice of Domino’s new brand of “not as bad as it used to be.”

Today, after returning from lunch, a colleague of mine forwarded me two emails: One from Pizza Hut and one from Papa John’s. Both emails said that I could buy any pizza with any toppings for the low price of $10. The key is that it’s ANY pizza with ANY toppings. That sounds like desperation.



Granted, there have always been pizza “specials” and coupons from delivery places, but these “specials” seem a little too “special” somehow. It’s basically opening up the entire shop to a discount. They are attempting to negate any benefit Dominos is getting from their new quasi-brand by focusing it back on what they think really matters – price.

A warning to Pizza Hut and Papa John’s: Do you really want to play defense against “not as bad as it used to be’” by lowering prices? Seems a much better investment in marketing dollars to invest in something a little more permanent like developing a meaningful brand that resonates with the target audience, not to mention this defensive posturing can only further embolden Domino’s.

A quick look at Domino’s web site really illustrates how crazy this has become.  According to Domino’s, it newly formulated pizza beats Papa John’s in taste testing in 3 out of 5 people.

Now that is something… A frightening statistic if you think about it.  Even after conducting all of the focus groups, investing in new product development, and improvement of processes, Domino’s is only preferred 60/40 when compared with Papa John’s (who did not change their formula).   And apparently this is enough to get Pizza Hut and Papa John’s to cut prices (they must think their pizza is still “as bad as it used to be.” It is a sad commentary that as we have said earlier, the delivery folks do not recognize that “good pizza” should be a table stake of the category.

So Pizza Hut and Papa John’s stop this silliness, else you will soon have to offer pizzas at 10 for $10.  Stop throwing away your money on defensive tactics and invest in the one thing you own  that no one else can claim.- your brand.  Just look at Domino’s, even mediocre is better than nothing.<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://pub.mybloglog.com/newwithme.php?b=sidebar&id=iyPfkS4RqdAnmVQDB5O8g39FD2QQ348mnS9Rig–”></script>