Brands: Papa John's Cuts NFL from Roster

-WSJ

Papa John’s and the NFL have been in an unhappy marriage in recent months. After the pizza chain said in November it was evaluating the relationship in the wake of declining TV ratings that it blamed for hurting its third-quarter sales, Papa John’s confirmed it will no longer be the official pizza of the league, WSJ reports.

 Papa John’s, an NFL partner since 2010, isn’t ditching football altogether, and will shift its sponsorship spend to individual teams and players. It’s also planning to redirect investments into building its data and analytics capabilities. 

Paul Samuels, executive vice president of global partnerships at sports and entertainment presenter AEG, tells me team and personality sponsorships allow brands to be more targeted regionally, especially in locations where Papa John’s may not be as strong. “It also gives them greater flexibility in delivering consistent promotions to these regions, greater on the ground presence for experiential activity and engagement with visitors and fans of the team, and arguably more relevance to the individual fan of a team via more targeted messaging,” Mr. Samuels added.