We launched “Papa John’s Cares“. We would shift the focus away from the political attacks and partner with Party City to show a different side of Papa John’s. As the initial promotion was so successful, it led to future campaigns that garnered tremendous visibility. The main idea was to turn our existing and new fans into ardent brand ambassadors wherein they would feel so strongly about this campaign that they would defend the brand against the trolling that we knew would ensue.

The Execution: Using some of the most emotionally compelling images that I could find, I wanted to tug at the heart strings of people who could afford home delivery of pizza and let them know that there are millions of Americans who go hungry every day.

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Following the success of the #tacklehunger promotion, next up was a massive event to Salute the troops at Charlotte Motor Speedway in conjunction with NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. Schnatter invited over 10,000 troops to the race and entertained them to the NASCAR race and and awesome head-to-head race in his recently recovered Camaro. He had sold the car in 1983 to help save his father’s business in Indiana.

Schnatter also used the money to start his own company, which became the Papa John’s pizza chain. After searching for the car for years — and even offering a $250,000 reward at one point — Schnatter found it. So he used that Camaro to race Charlotte Motor Speedway President, Marcus G. Smith.