Calling all marketing and PR professionals. Here’s a story you should have something to say about. Please watch the video below.
Summary: Franchise pizza chain Papa Johns loses control of a Washington-based franchise who calls Cleveland Cavs star Lebron James a “crybaby” by having t-shirts made that say as much.
Cleveland media and fans pick up on the t-shirts and now Clevelanders, who also have Papa Johns, are fuming mad and planning to boycott the pizza chain.
Now Papa Johns has apologized and is giving $10k to a charity and offering pizzas for a mere 23 cents to all Clevelanders.
So, who’s to blame here? And is Papa Johns handling it right?
But more importantly, isn’t this exactly what all brands fear in today’s connected world? That some rouge outfit or person in their organization makes a decision that they didn’t approve and it spreads like wildfire?
Yes, it is. And it’s things like this that ruin the chances of people like me being able to sell “losing, or giving up control” of your brand to marketing and communication directors of big companies. I’m very interested in your thoughts.
Tags: Marketing, Public Relations
I can’t imagine the corporate offices approved those shirts.
I think that franchisee should be on the hook for the donation and $0.23 pizzas for Clevelanders.
Also, the heads at Papa Johns should get the person in Washington to put up a video apology to Lebron and the Clevand fans (wearing a Lebron jersey) on all the big video sites.
Something humorous that brings the focus on the brand being fun and playful.
And knowing the clip will get played on some or all of the TV stations in Cleveland, Papa Johns comes away with a free, feel good commercial (assuming they put a logo on the video).
So that brings the question Shawn. Is even bad press good press?
Pretty funny that Pizza hut Google ads are appearing in this blog post.
This is more the legal circus at work than a marketing communications blunder.
Nice job, Jim. Thanx for the shout out!
Sanderson PR, a franchise Public Relations company posted about this at their Daily Franchise News Blog.http://dailyfranchisenews.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/bad-franchisee.html
My take: Papa John’s servers are probably smoking! Their Alexa rankings are through the roof. But, papa John’s corp. is probably not too happy. Their PR firm did a great job!
I did a story about this debacle? on The Franchise King Blog, Monday..
Joel Libava
Another “Absolut” Screw-up.
And no, bad PR is still bad PR. Ask Michael Jackson.
Nice recovery, won’t hurt them in the long run. People are smart enough to figure things out here.
I think the only reason papa johns are takin such action is all away for them 2 benefit….first of the knew what they were doin by insulting such a superstar and admired player in an eye catching way mainy so the eyecatcher would see the promotion of papa johns on the back of the shirt……..and now I think the apology is just because they realize what they did would make them loose money…..no money is worth throwing dirt on a mans name
FYI, update. It’s madness here today on .23 cent pizza day. Every Papa Johns has hundreds of people in front of them. News crews are making it the lead story, people are talking about it everywhere…
There was a police and news helicopter over the one by my house today.
Still think bad press is bad press? Smart PR people can turn bad press into good press, this is yet another example of how to do that.
Jim: hey, they just could have offered $0.23 (or $2.30, or just a 23 inch pizza, or something else that’s 23) pizzas in celebration of the win. THAT would have been good press. Doing it because you insulted your home town hero? Not as good.
People are smart, PJ’s won’t be hurt in the long run, but this is going to cost a lot of money!
Hi Jim,
As requested, my video take on all things Pizza. Just click my name, above!
Joel Libava
Hi Jim,
As requested, my video take on all things Pizza. Just click my name, above!
Joel Libava
I actually think they handled it very well. I can’t imagine this was a plan from people who know what they are doing. It was probably just some local branch that doesn’t really think about the larger implications of its actions.
So Papa Johns had to do crisis communications. They apologized. They gave money to a charity, and they did something to personally help anyone who is offended. I would say well done for taking responsibility.
In terms of losing control, the truth is with Web 2.0 any real control is an illusion. Even if you don’t have an official social media strategy, there is a chance that anyone could start saying negative things about you. However, if you are a company with a loyal fan base, utilize that to counteract any negative press. Transparency that shows your bad side is better than looking like you’re hiding something.
Kudos to Papa John’s for making it up to my hometown. No one messes with LeBron! But let’s face it…those t-shirts played really well here in DC. I’d say this whole fiasco is a net win.
I am disappointed that the franchisee did not think first before tarnishing the Papa Johns Brand. However, I applaud Papa Johns Corporate Marketing and PR team for swiftly stepping up to the plate. They have the perfect opportunity to employ a well defined pr strategy to counteract this unfortunate mishap of a “franchisee’s Marketing efforts gone wild”.
I agree that the franchisee should be a part of the “mea culpa” plan from Papa Johns. All eyes are watching Papa Johns to see if they can turn this into a Home Run.
“If you cann’t be famous try to be infamous and you would get all the attention in the world.” -Anonymous
Papa johns got it all wrong with this Faux Pas and I think its just a desperate measure on their part to give $ 10,000 to charity and offering pizzas @ 23 cents.
Charity wont add upto their image and brand in a short span of time.
I would say a pre planned action to be a cynosure.
Cheers..
Varun Badhwar
Papa Johns needs to get their image up. Their fault.
haha, I can see the humor behind it, but I understand the clevelanders and Papa John’s headquarter’s reaction. People probably don’t remember it anymore after 2 years.