Louisville removed the Papa John's signage from what will now be called Cardinal StadiumJEN KEENEY
The MLB Rangers are "reinstating their partnership with Papa John’s" beginning with tonight's home game against the Orioles, according to Jeff Wilson of the Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM. The reinstatement comes after the Rangers "joined a long list of other MLB franchises and various sports teams that suspended their marketing and promotional relationships with Papa John’s." Part of the agreement "included a half-price pizza promotion the day after the Rangers scored seven runs in a game, as well as advertisement around the ballpark" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/2). In Dallas, Evan Grant notes MLB teams have "slowly been trickling back to their sponsorships" of Papa John's (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/2). Meanwhile, in Louisville, Thomas Novelly notes Papa John's signage "was removed" from the Univ. of Louisville's football stadium yesterday. Two days after the news broke about company Founder John Schnatter, UL President Neeli Bendapudi said that the football facility "would be renamed Cardinal Stadium, effective immediately, and they would no longer use the 'Papa John's moniker'" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 8/2).
RE-BRANDING EFFORT: ADWEEK's Patrick Coffee noted Papa John's has "turned to another ad agency" to take over its marketing efforts in Endeavor Global Marketing, the creative division of Endeavor. Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John "led the final pitch" to the pizza chain along with EGM President Ed Horne, Exec VP/Branded Impact Group Seth Matlins and Exec Creative Dir Ryan Wagman. The review "launched less than one month ago, with EGM beating out two other unnamed agencies." WME co-President Mark Shapiro has "been a member" of the Papa John’s BOD since '11. Papa John's agency of record had been Laundry Service, which "won the account late last year." EGM taking over "marks the first time it has been named creative AOR on a major brand." EGM will begin "working across all of Papa John’s channels immediately, with a full campaign set to debut in the fall" (ADWEEK.com, 8/1). Meanwhile, Schnatter said that Papa John's "needs him back as its public face, and that it was a mistake for the company to scrub him from its marketing materials." He also said that he "believes he can return to TV and radio ads once the public understands the context of his comments" (AP, 8/2).
IN HIS DEFENSE? In Indiana, Seth Slabaugh in a front-page piece notes FS1's Jason Whitlock is "coming to the defense" of Schnatter. Whitlock via email said, "Schnatter, in a private conference call, saying Colonel Sanders used the N-word isn’t racist. Mr. Schnatter’s words did not harm black people. It was a tree falling in the woods. The only person disparaged was Colonel Sanders. I do think Mr. Schnatter used poor judgment." Whitlock and Schnatter are both Ball State alumni, and when asked whether the school should remove Schnatter's name from marketing materials, Whitlock said, "No. Hell no. John Schnatter is Ball State family and we better treat him like family. You don’t abandon family over this kind of exaggerated controversy. If there’s proof he ran Papa John’s Pizza in a discriminatory fashion, then I say boot him from campus. But the only thing I’ve seen proven so far is that he’s really outspoken in his beliefs and a bit undisciplined in how he expresses those beliefs" (Muncie STAR PRESS, 8/2).
