Grey New York Explores Humble Beginnings for Papa John’s

The folks over at Grey New York (who may or may not know a thing or two about Italian food, but certainly know French food) launched a new campaign for Papa John’s emphasizing the chain’s commitment to quality ingredients while giving viewers a taste of its origins, entitled “Get to Know Better.”

The spot illustrates, as usual, the brand’s longtime slogan of “Better ingredients. Better pizza.” But it gives a closer look at exactly what Papa John’s means by the line when John Schnatter says, “When I hear other places are starting to remove things like MSG, partially-hydrogenated oils and fillers in their toppings, I say ‘Good, we’ve already done all that and more.'” The line may be a bit on the self-congratulatory side, but it speaks to how the campaign addresses the ingredients in the chain’s pizzas more directly than in the past. The 60-second spot, the brand’s first of that length, also give viewers a glimpse of Papa John’s origins, making pizzas out of a small broom closet in his father’s tavern in 1984. That detail is a pretty charming origin story, which makes you wonder why it’s taken the Papa so long to bring it up.