Dive Brief:
- Papa John's launched its "12 Days of Better" campaign that will see the chain deliver hundreds of pizzas to 12 Salvation Army locations and includes a #passthepizza promotion giving consumers a way to recognize the unsung heroes in their communities, per a company press release.
- People can tag a person or group they are thankful for with #passthepizza and the Papa John's will send up to 50,000 of those tagged a digital code for a free one-topping pizza on Twitter.
- People who impact daily lives in small but significant ways too often are unrecognized and the campaign is part of the pay-it-forward season and encouraging others to do the same, said Brandon Rhoten, global CMO of Papa John’s, in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Marketing built around giving consumers a way to pay it forward continues to be a trend, especially around the holidays, as it gives brands a way to engage consumers on social media — where they are spending a significant amount of time and gives them a reason to share what the brand is doing with their followers.
What's nice about the Papa John's effort is that the brand isn't just giving consumers a way to say thanks but is also doing so itself by donating to a worthy cause, the Salvation Army. This could help the effort resonate with younger consumers, who want the brands they do business with to be good stewards.
The campaign fits into a recent trend around using positive messages in marketing, including leveraging social media's viral nature to spread empowering and happy thoughts as opposed to the negativity that is often found in social messaging. In fact, research from digital video analytics firm Ace Metrix released in October found video ads with the highest combined scores on attention and likeability shared common themes around compassion, kindness and ingenuity.