I was watching a college hoops game this weekend when I noticed that a fan behind the Kentucky bench eating a personal Papa John’s pizza.
At first I thought this was a pretty good marketing coup…after all, I wasn’t the only watching the game. Then I realized that Papa John’s could improve on their in-game marketing by changing the pizza box:
- Flip the branding. Early Mac laptops had the Apple logo appear upside down when the laptop was opened which seemed awkward to everyone but the Mac user. The TV audience will see the box top when it’s opened, so the branding should be flipped to make it more recognizable.
- Simplify the box. I love the story about how Papa John sold his ’72 Camaro to fund his entrepreneurial dreams, but few people are reading at the game, and you can’t make that out on the box top from home, even with a 1040p HDTV.
- Add a call-to-action. I wonder if you could add the web site address or 800 number for fans at home to call right now and still make it legible. It’d be worth a try.
Of course, this would work for any company selling personal pizzas at sports arenas. Any who take me up on the idea can feel free to send me tickets to the Superbowl, Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup or March Madness. Heck, I’d even take some tickets to NASCAR if someone will explain to me how the Chase works.
