NEW YORK: Papa John's, the pizza chain, has affirmed its commitment to integrated marketing by reframing the role of its creative shop as a "content agency", rather than a traditional advertising agency.
Jim Ensign, vp/global digital marketing at Papa John's International, told delegates at OMMA Mobile – an event held during Internet Week 2014 – about the firm's internal repositioning of how to describe its lead agency.
"We just hired a new agency. And we don't call them an ad agency – they're a content agency," he said. (For more, including Papa John's SLICE formula for success, read Warc's exclusive report: Papa John's perfects its recipe for delivering on digital.)
The agency in question was Grey, which was selected after a review process that originally featured requests to participate from over 60 agencies.
While Grey's category knowledge and strategic savvy were among the reasons for its ultimate success, Ensign informed the OMMA assembly that its skills in formulating content for various channels was vital.
"We refer to them as a content agency, and that was the important part of the review," he said. More specifically, he added, Papa John's wanted a partner that could deliver "real big ideas across all channels."
As a company which was a first mover in introducing both online and mobile ordering systems, Papa John's has a history of moving fast – and first – in the digital space. Reaching consumers across channels plays into that perfectly.
"That's important to us, because we know it is a TV world, it is a mobile world, it is a desktop world, it is a social world," said Ensign.
In an increasingly complex media landscape, it is essential for agencies to be media-neutral, and work with the channels that best suit their particular goals.
"The thinking is [it's] so important to be agnostic across that, and the ideas need to be agnostic," said Ensign.
Jim Ensign, vp/global digital marketing at Papa John's International, told delegates at OMMA Mobile – an event held during Internet Week 2014 – about the firm's internal repositioning of how to describe its lead agency.
"We just hired a new agency. And we don't call them an ad agency – they're a content agency," he said. (For more, including Papa John's SLICE formula for success, read Warc's exclusive report: Papa John's perfects its recipe for delivering on digital.)
The agency in question was Grey, which was selected after a review process that originally featured requests to participate from over 60 agencies.
While Grey's category knowledge and strategic savvy were among the reasons for its ultimate success, Ensign informed the OMMA assembly that its skills in formulating content for various channels was vital.
"We refer to them as a content agency, and that was the important part of the review," he said. More specifically, he added, Papa John's wanted a partner that could deliver "real big ideas across all channels."
As a company which was a first mover in introducing both online and mobile ordering systems, Papa John's has a history of moving fast – and first – in the digital space. Reaching consumers across channels plays into that perfectly.
"That's important to us, because we know it is a TV world, it is a mobile world, it is a desktop world, it is a social world," said Ensign.
In an increasingly complex media landscape, it is essential for agencies to be media-neutral, and work with the channels that best suit their particular goals.
"The thinking is [it's] so important to be agnostic across that, and the ideas need to be agnostic," said Ensign.
Data sourced from Warc
