Papa John’s Most Identified NFL Sponsor by Fans

Papa John’s pizza has been voted the most identified brand sponsor of the National Football League (NFL) by avid fans, click a survey has shown.

The survey released this week by Turnkey Intelligence for SportsBusiness Journal/Daily, showed that more than 62% of avid fans identified Papa John’s as the official pizza of the NFL.

The numbers represent a 13% increase from 2012, the largest increase of all the 68 brands involved in the survey.

John Schnatter, Papa John’s Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive said: ““We are very humbled by our results with the NFL and are flattered to be mentioned in the same company as great brands such as Gatorade and Pepsi.

“I think this is attributable to the collaborative relationship we have with our franchisees, our corporate operators and our customers. Furthermore, I’d be remiss not to give a shout-out to our fantastic marketing team and our relationship with Peyton Manning and Jim Nantz.”

Papa John’s furthered their sponsorship with the NFL by partnering with Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, for an ad campaign featuring Manning, Schnatter and sports caster Nantz.

Manning is also a franchisee, partnering in 22 restaurants in the Denver market since October 2012.

Andrew Varga, Papa John’s Chief Marketing Officer added: ““Our partnership with the powerful NFL brand and our relationship with Peyton Manning and Jim Nantz have been focused on driving quality brand equity while building a rapport with the great fans of the NFL.

“Our strategy has been successful, in part, because we’ve been able to leverage many of the NFL brand assets as well, including being the Official Pizza of about half of the NFL teams, and partnering with Peyton Manning on a season-long ad campaign.”