Papa Johns saw North America comparable sales decrease 5% in Q4 2025 — its seventh quarter of negative sales growth in the last eight quarters — as the pizza chain struggles to adapt to a period of prolonged macroeconomic sluggishness and the evolution of the post-pandemic QSR category.
As the chain continues its transformation, sharpening and amplifying its marketing message has remained a priority. To that end, Papa Johns has reestablished marketing co-ops across 50 markets in the U.S., including the majority of its priority markets.
“These co-ops enable franchisees across regions to pool resources for more effective localized targeting and brand support. Now nearly half of our North American systemwide sales are supported by an advertising co-op with collaborative local campaigns,” CEO Todd Penegor said on an earnings call last month.
Bringing back local co-ops reverses a move made under previous leadership that made local advertising optional for the chain’s franchisees. The chain in 2024 shifted to a nationally focused marketing model that upped per-store investment in the national marketing fund from 5% to 6% but eliminated the 3% local spend requirement — a decision Penegor, who joined the chain in August 2024, has previously called a “big miss.”
While Papa Johns expects Q1 to be another soft quarter, the chain notes that marketing co-ops, a new aggregator marketing strategy and product innovation could improve its performance starting in the second half of 2026.
A new creative recipe
Along with the co-ops, Papa Johns plans to support new product launches with a new creative platform developed in partnership with Leo Chicago, which was appointed agency of record in December 2025 after a brief creative review. Previously, The Martin Agency held the account for nearly two years.
Upcoming campaigns will continue to be centered on messaging around the chain’s simple ingredients but will lean into “culture-forward omnichannel storytelling.” Papa Johns recently launched an effort to earn a Michelin star and supported its pan pizza launch with a campaign that spanned online video, social and owned channels, TV, influencer and media activations.
“Our messaging around pan is performing well especially among younger consumers with strong purchase intent and desirability results,” Penegor said on the call.
The new creative platform will follow Papa Johns’ “Meet the Makers” platform, which the chain launched last March and iterated on in June. The effort highlighted real team members and the quality of its ingredients and spanned national TV, paid online media and both organic and paid social. Papa Johns saw strong improvement in its brand perception quality score after the launch of “Meet the Makers,” Penegor said previously.
Along with “Meet the Makers,” Papa Johns in 2025 invested advertising dollars in non-working media to launch a comprehensive testing program intended to inform future spend around promotions and CRM tactics, and continued to optimize its channel mix and audience spend.
“We are also leveraging analytics and a strong testing protocol to optimize the allocation of our marketing spend across channels, further improve our marketing ROI and better meet customers where they are,” Penegor said during the chain’s Q2 2025 earnings call. “As we continue to invest in marketing, we are continuously measuring and adjusting our mix towards the most efficient and effective use cases to drive long-term growth, supported by data-driven insights.”
Is optimization enough?
Papa Johns’ marketing has been led by Jenna Bromberg since her appointment as CMO in November 2024. Formerly director of core brand marketing at Pizza Hut, Bromberg was brought on to elevate the brand through data-driven campaigns after the departure of CMO Mark Shambura.
Apart from its new marketing plans, Papa Johns is working to strengthen its restaurant operations in a variety of ways. The company plans to close 300 underperforming restaurants and will remove Papadias and Papa Bites from its menu during the second quarter of 2026. All together, the work could help Papa Johns reestablish itself among competitors including beleaguered Yum Brands chain Pizza Hut and market leader Domino’s, which is looking to double its sales.
“The pizza category is certainly mature, but do not let the challenges at some of our higher profile competitors drive a false narrative,” Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner said on an earnings call last month. “Our competitors' results are not a reflection of the category's health or its future potential. Their results are a direct reflection of our strength.”
Papa Johns’ return to co-ops and the preparation of new advertising campaigns builds on previous marketing investments, which totaled $21 million in incremental spend in 2025. The company plans to invest about $22 million in supplemental marketing and franchise incentives this year. It remains to be seen whether the new marketing plans will be enough to get the chain back on track.
“Despite relaunching nearly 50 local co-ops to balance the advertising spend between national and local, the company expects its ad spending to decline by a low-teens percent this year,” said a recent report from BTIG analysts Peter Saleh and Ben Parente. “The shift back to local spending likely makes sense given the varying regional presence following the closures, though we only have medium confidence the planned menu innovation will be enough to stem the sales decline.”
