Brief:
- Take-and-bake pizza chain Papa Murphy's kicked off a social media campaign in August that resulted in metrics that exceeded industry benchmarks, according to an announcement shared exclusively with Mobile Marketer. The 360-degree "Bake It Up a Notch" effort began with five TV spots and 100 creative pieces designed specifically for social media.
- Papa Murphy's saw engagement rates on Facebook that were six times higher than food and beverage industry averages, as well as 29 times greater on Twitter and two times higher on Instagram, as measured by researcher RivalIQ. The social media content racked up about 1.2 million organic impressions, more than 20,000 engagements, around 8,000 new followers and an average engagement rate of 2.2%.
- Papa Murphy's created the campaign in partnership with Mekanism and the creative agency's in-house social agency Epic Signal and in-house production studio Sister.
Insight:
The "Bake It Up a Notch" campaign offers some good news for struggling Papa Murphy and is the chain's first effort to target young adults, or the millennial "Netflix and chill" audience, with a large dose of humor and new brand characters Matt & Molly.
The strong metrics for the "Bake It Up a Notch" campaign highlights the importance of ad creative that is tailored specifically to social media platforms, including square-framed and vertical video that's easier for viewers to watch while holding a smartphone. Mekanism's Epic Signal prioritized visual cues and motion over sound with the goal of supporting "thumb-stopping" capabilities that could capture the attention of users scrolling through their social feed without sound. The cues included pizza onesies, cowboy hats and break dancing. The agency also leveraged logistical optimization by using the same TV talent, crew, director and set.
While Papa Murphy's social media campaign performed well and the brand ranks high for quality, it has struggled for profitability for years. The company this month announced a strategic alternatives review, which could mean Papa Murphy's management is seeking a buyer. The company's same-store sales dipped 2.1% in Q3 2018 from a year earlier, and its net loss narrowed to $639,000 from $2.68 million, according to its announcement. A sale would make Papa Murphy's the latest publicly traded chain to seek a buyer after Sonic, Bojangles' and Zoës Kitchen were acquired, according to Restaurant Business.
Correction: This story has been updated to state that the in-house social agency and production team mentioned are internal groups within Mekanism's organization and not Papa Murphy's.
