Can a new CMO give Papa John's the boost he needs?

Diving Brief:

• Karlin Linhardt has been named general manager of Papa John's marketing after serving eight months as North America's senior vice president of marketing for Subway, according to a press release.
• Linhardt's QSR experience also includes 10 years at McDonald's, where he led initiatives that helped turn the brand around, including children and family (Happy Meals), valuable products ( Dollar menu) and premium hamburgers (Big Mac, Quarter Pounder). He has led strategic business and marketing activities across several brand categories: restaurants, retailers, consumer goods, media, sports marketing and entertainment.
• "The addition of Karlin to the position of Managing Director of Marketing is one of the many important steps we have taken to improve the differentiation of our brand, including improving our quality positioning in the category" said CEO Steve Ritchie. "The combined experience of Karlin's restaurants, franchises and mainstream brands makes it a great addition to Papa John's management team."

Insight on diving:

Since the very public fallout of founder John Schnatter last summer, Papa John's quickly reacted to transform his system to about 5,000 units. It has not been easy. The company ends the year 2018 with sales down more than 7%. In the end, Papa John's adjusted net income declined by $ 71.9 million from last year's adjusted net income.

There is still much to be done and Papa John seems to want to stay in the chosen race. Until now, this course has included everything from removing Schnatter's image from its marketing materials, to millions of dollars to help franchisees and recruiting its very first person in charge. human resources. On paper, these changes are perfectly logical, but in practice the process has been long and costly. The company expects sales by store will continue to decline by 1% to 5% in fiscal 2019, and badysts expect the channel to take longer than expected, as the wars of value and fidelity multiply in the pizzas sector.

In other words, Linhardt has some work to do. But he has extensive industry experience – including with the besieged metro – and understands the difficult terrain.

In addition, Linhardt joins the recovery because many of the brand's re-education seeds have already been planted. The channel has just launched a new loyalty program, for example, and is collaborating with athletes and social media influencers for campaigns to improve its image. But the biggest help comes from adding NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal to his board. O 'Neal is the first African-American member to sit on the company's board of directors.

Shaq is not only a board member, but also a brand ambbadador and has signed a three-year marketing agreement with the company, worth $ 8.25 million. A savvy businessman, he also has experience in restoration and is one of those friendly personalities (unique name) who could bring a boon to Papa John's, who is seeking a new identity without Schnatter.

However, not everything will be clean. In the press release, Ritchie said Linhardt would contribute to "Better Ingredients". Better Pizza ", which means it's probably not going to go away in this marketing redesign. This could be a problem if the company wants to start over.

Of course, Papa John's cracks are far too deep to be filled by one person, but the company will be better placed to go ahead with a CMO in the executive suite. The position is vacant for Papa John's since May. According to the Harvard Business Review, marketing managers are primarily responsible for driving sales growth. For Papa John's to gain ground, sales growth is the best place to start.