Can Removing an Apostrophe Save a Failing Brand?

If you've been living in a shack in a remote wilderness without any media or connectivity, well, you might consider yourself lucky these days, given the state of the news we're seeing! However, if you have been living under such a rock, one of the biggest business stories of the past year has been the quick and sudden downfall of the Papa John's pizza chain.

By any measure, it has not been a good year for Papa John's—and especially for company founder, John Schnatter. In a series of unfortunate events, the namesake of Papa John's seemingly put his foot in his mouth a number of times. First, he blamed the pizza chains falling sales on the company's close ties with the National Football League in the wake of the NFL's National Anthem controversy. Then, in a diversity training session (yes, a diversity training session!), Papa John Schnatter uttered the N-word—and the rest was downhill from there! (You can read the grisly details about his actual comments for yourself in this Forbes article) Schnatter resigned as CEO of the company he founded on January 1st of this year, and then in July, after the N-word controversy came to light, he was forced to step down as Chairman of Board.

While some may claim that there's no such thing as bad publicity, well, Papa John's proves that there is—and sales for the ubiquitous pizza chain have fallen accordingly. Same store sales for the company have fallen markedly during 2018, declining by six percent in the second quarter of the year and then, after the media firestorm over Schnatter's use of a racial slur in the training conference call, sales fell an additional 10.5 percent across the chain's 3,400 locations in North America. Apparently, a significant number of pizza seeking customers simply chose not to support Papa John's with their business over their feelings about Papa John, the founder and face of the company. And that is very bad news if your business is pizza and consumers have many choices as to where and how to spend their pizza dollars.

In response, the pizza chain is taking steps to help out disgruntled franchise owners, who are bearing the brunt of the sales slump, with financial relief to help them to stay afloat as the company struggles with how to completely separate itself from its founder. Even so, Schnatter, who still owns approximately 30 percent of the company's common stock, is himself currently attempting to work with private equity firms to gain a controlling interest in his namesake company, further complicating the public perception that Papa John's is still, well, Papa John's.

And so now, the company has come up with a masterful strategy to distance itself from its founder, John Schnatter, or so they think. In late August, the company filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to change how it presents it brand in both wording and imagery. In short, the pizza giant would keep the Papa John's brand name, but it would ditch the apostrophe in the second word. This is no doubt a subtle change—one that would likely not even be noticed by consumers if the apostrophe were to be simply dropped from the old logo and branding.

Yet, the change is huge precisely because—for the company's history—Papa John's was literally Papa John's! John Schnatter was the face of the company—and he was everywhere!

If you ordered from their website, his face was on it.

If you went into a Papa John's location to pickup your pizza order, the store was decorated with signage and posters with Schnatter in them.

The pizza box that your pizza was served in had Papa John on it.

Even their rewards program gave you credits for your loyalty in Papa Points.

And the trucks that supplied their stores with all that tomato sauce, all that dough, and all that cheese and pepperoni that make your pizza possible in Peoria or Pomona had John Schnatter's face on them!

The company's move to remove its founder in the public's perception centers on removing that apostrophe - simply making Papa John's Papa Johns. A recent Ad Age analysis by Jessica Wohl of the firm's branding strategy is simple: "The possessive brand name continues to suggest that the chain is owned by John himself. And, indeed, he remains its largest shareholder. Now, it appears Papa John's will try to add a little more public distance by dropping that possessive usage from its logo" (Source). But, the literally billion—and billions—of dollar question is: Will this be enough?

From a design standpoint, the new logo has drawn positive reviews. Tulin Erdem, who is a professor of marketing at NYU's Stern business school, recently commented to CNN that the current Papa John's logo, "features more traditional type in a domed frame, (and) is 'very traditional' and 'maybe outdated.'" In comparison, Dr. Erdem thinks that the new, trademarked logo is "more streamlined, more contemporary." (Source)

The New Logo - Without the Possessive Tense - for Papa Johns

The Current - Soon to Be Replaced - Papa John's Logo

However, the real purpose behind the company's new presentation of itself to the public is to try and erase the stigma of Papa John Schnatter and the bad brand image that the founder left the company with from his very public missteps in his final year. Yet, it is a much tougher proposition to blot out political controversy and racism in the minds of consumers—and investors—than to simply take down signage from stores, create a new John-less ad campaign, redesign the corporate website, and recycle millions and millions of unused pizza boxes with the founder's face on them. Some would deem this a mission impossible. Indeed, some may argue that it would be simpler for the company to seek to rebrand itself with a new name (call it "Papa's Pizza," "PJ's Pizza," etc.) that would totally cut any ties to Papa John - since John Schnatter was the living, breathing, acting, photographed, and cartooned face of the firm in the marketplace.

What Papa John's (soon to be Papa Johns) leadership is attempting to do is perhaps unparalleled in business history - especially with such a consumer-oriented company that has been regarded as a leader in the fast-food industry.

Other companies have had challenges when a spokesperson for the company became embroiled in controversies of one sort or another. Just a sampling of "celebrities behaving badly" would include:

South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius, Convicted of Killing His Girlfriend, in an Unfortunate Ad for Nike

And yet, because John Schnatter was not just the spokeman, but the founder—and still the largest shareholder—the challenge facing Papa Johns executives to "right the ship" and change the image and perception of the company—particularly among the pizza-buying public—will be a delicate dance. Papa John was marketed as - and perceived by consumers as—the Papa John's company. He was the face of the company, its branding, its packaging, heck even its trucks! Perhaps the only comparable corporate scandal in recent years is that of the Harvey Weinstein Company and its namesake founder. He, too, in the era of #MeToo, was the face and embodiment of the company. Harvey Weinstein has been a major force in Hollywood for decades, but his sexual assault and harassment charges brought his empire down—quickly! What remained of his company was forced to declare bankruptcy and sold to the only bidder for its assets earlier this year.

In the end, the executive team at Papa John's headquarters in Louisville (of course, John Schnatter's hometown!) faces a daunting task. They have taken actions to better communicate with their employees after the turmoil brought on by the founder's racist comments and to improve relations with their franchisees in the wake of the financial losses caused by the ensuing controversy. And yet, the very fact that John Schnatter remains Papa John's largest stockholder—and continues to try to find a way to gain back control of "his" company—only complicates what is already one of the trickiest rebrandings ever to be attempted. The task is immense, and whether the millions of dollars being invested to remove the possessive tense from the company's name will be a case study in marketing that will be studied for decades—however the story ends. Yet, the simple apostrophe—and how—and if—consumers perceive the change—will be a matter of corporate survival for the pizza giant—and a matter of fascination across the marketing and advertising realm for some time to come.