Papa Johns has appointed Chris Lyn-Sue, Senior Vice President of International and General Manager, as its new global Chief Marketing Officer,according to a press release. Current Chief Marketing Officer Jenna Bromberg will leave the company to pursue other opportunities but will remain as an advisor until August 28 to assist with the transition.

Additionally, company President and CEO Todd Penegor stated that in the second half of the year, the company will rebalance its media mix, increasing the share of spending on broad-reach channels. This marketing restructuring comes as Papa Johns continues to face pressure, partly due to a weak consumer environment and extremely intense competition in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. According to results released Thursday (referring to the day of the earnings release), the company's global and North American comparable sales declined 5.7% and 8.3%, respectively, in the second quarter,related results can be found here。

"In this highly competitive environment, we recognize the importance of protecting share of voice in broad-reach channels while still maintaining a balanced channel mix to reach customers where they are most active. Maximizing marketing return on investment requires a balance between broad national awareness and local relevance," Penegor said during a conference call on Thursday discussing the company's second-quarter results.

Earlier this year, Papa Johns had already re-established marketing co-ops in 50 U.S. marketsre-establish marketing co-ops(marketing co-ops), covering most of its priority markets, to support more effective local targeted placements and brand support. Penegor revealed during the call that markets supported by co-ops and supplemental local spending outperformed other markets by 200 basis points. To further advance these initiatives, Papa Johns will build a regional marketing team and plans to restore co-op mechanisms for most of the system's restaurants by the end of the year.

Penegor also stated during the call that Papa Johns will launch a more targeted third-party aggregator platform strategy to drive brand trial. The company will optimize promotional approaches and refine the allocation of national and local third-party marketing spending. Currently, more than 85% of Papa Johns' sales come from digital channels (including aggregator platforms), and the company is focused on leveraging new e-commerce and CRM platforms to drive personalized experiences.

Lyn-Sue joined Papa Johns in 2022 and served as interim Chief Marketing Officer in 2024. According to the press release, the executive previously held global brand leadership and marketing roles at Popeyes, Restaurant Brands International, and Bacardi, and played a "key role" in Papa Johns' international expansion.

Bromberg joined Papa Johns in November 2024 and during her tenure led several marketing campaigns aimed at enhancing brand cultural relevance, including a collaboration with Pixar's "Toy Story 5," opening four Pizza Planet pop-up locations in key global markets. Penegor said during the call that these campaigns generated approximately 4 billion total media impressions and thousands of organic social media posts.