Papa John's has been "distancing itself" from the NFL, removing league imagery and "'official sponsor' wording" from its ads, according to Jessica Wohl of AD AGE. The brand is "airing more 15-second spots focused on the chain than 30-second ones about football" -- all while "evaluating whether to continue as the official pizza sponsor of the NFL and the Super Bowl." Papa John's CMO Brandon Rhoten said that he would "like to see" the company "rely less on external partners like the NFL." Rhoten: "We can't be beholden to their success." Wohl noted Papa John's spent $39.2M on ads during pre-game, game and post-game NFL programming last season, and "planned to spend more this season." But even with its official sponsor status, it "spent less than larger rivals Domino's and Pizza Hut." With all of Papa John's talk of the NFL "pressuring its results," its ads accounted for just 0.6% of all ads, excluding PSAs, during NFL games. Rhoten: "It's still a gargantuan source of reach and benefit for brands. So I can't imagine we would walk away from the NFL, ever. ... No advertiser who is in the space we're in should or can. The question is: How do we allocate the funds to the NFL and fundamentally how do we broaden our media approach so we're less beholden to whether ratings are up or down?" Rhoten added, "It could be our last year for a lot of things we're investing in right now." Wohl wrote some ads "playing up the chain's NFL ties are still airing," including one featuring Texans DE J.J. Watt. But Rhoten said that other NFL-focused ads that were "set to debut now may not air at all." He added that the chain will "do something around the Super Bowl, but doesn't have a spot intended for the game" (ADAGE.com, 11/8).
KEEP IT ON THE FIELD: NBCU Chair of Ad Sales & Client Partnerships Linda Yaccarino said that some advertisers are "unhappy about the controversy" over protests during the national anthem. Speaking at the Verizon Media Tech Program last week, Yaccarino said that while none of NBC's NFL advertisers have "pulled out" of the net's "SNF" or "TNF" games, many have "made themselves very clear: if you continue covering the political coverage of the issue, we will not be part of the NFL" (ADWEEK.com, 11/6).
