Papa John’s is Very Sorry to Cleveland
The short story is this. The Cavs played the Wizards in the opening round of the playoffs. The Wizards despite pussying out on the name “Bullets” felt that it would be a good idea to beat the crap out of LeBron James and then call him a crybaby when he said he wasn’t going to bend from all their shots that they were throwing his way.
Papa John’s in Washington thought it would be a fine idea to print some Crybaby t-shirts with the number 23 on them for the sixth game of the opening round where LeBron scored a triple double and sent the Wizards to the golf course for the season. Didn’t you all look silly with those t-shirts on as you left early due to the pounding that LeBron gave you in your home arena?
The problem with Papa John’s opportunistic promotion was that Cleveland is a decent market for Papa John’s. Clevelanders eat a lot of pizza, apparently. I counted on the website and there are at least 10 locations that come up when I search my zip code. That means that there are ten within striking distance of Cleveland and LeBron fans. How does that guerrilla marketing plan look now?
Boycotts were mentioned. Cleveland fans were riled up. You will remember that this is the same sports town that sent John “Big Dawg” Thompson (right) to testify before congress after Art Modell and the NFL stole our professional football team.
Well, Papa John’s was scared so they have apologized and are going to offer large one-topping pizzas to Cleveland residents on Thursday for a small price of 23 cents in honor of LeBron James’ number 23. The big joke will be when they only offer the food to “Cleveland” residents. You see, the way we draw the lines for our cities and towns around here means that almost nobody actually lives in “Cleveland.” Out of the 10 stores listed on the website as being near my home, only 3 are actually in the city of Cleveland. Are the near suburban residents out of luck? We will see.
Comments
One Response to “Papa John’s is Very Sorry to Cleveland”
Leave a Reply
Sideblog 
- FreeTheAirwaves.org Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 7:51 am
Google has a vested business interest in this project, but I am rooting for them anyway. Google wants to take that unused fuzzy space between TV channels and broadcast internet signals all over the. […] - Browns vs. Giants - Preseason Game 2 Live Blog at WFNY Monday, 18 August 2008, 4:19 pm
The nice guys over at Waiting for Next Year are going to be live-blogging their event in a chat room over at their site. I am a geek, and will be joining them. Come on over. - Dan Gilbert is My Hero Sunday, 10 August 2008, 5:46 am
Cleveland Cavaliers owner on all the LeBron James rumors, ”The reason this thing is where it’s at,” Gilbert said, ”is that we’ve got a bunch of bored, East Coast sports writers who have noth. […] - LeBron to Europe? I Don’t Think So Thursday, 7 August 2008, 4:22 am
So, while the major media continues to plot LeBron’s departure from Cleveland, there is a sane voice out there letting everyone know how unlikely the most outlandish scenarios truly are. - Top Gun 2???!?!?!??!?!? Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 5:50 am
According to reports, the plot outline is, (wait for it) “The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor — and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot.” - Be Afraid Utah Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 7:26 am
Carlos Boozer is a snake and one of the most dishonorable people in professional sports history. I guess I am not over this just yet. - How much you wanna bet… Thursday, 3 July 2008, 9:18 pm
That this 4-day work week will actually increase the amount of gasoline that these employees will be using? Instead of commuting to work, they will now be going to the grocery store, going to do som. […] - In-Car DVD Players are Stupid Thursday, 26 June 2008, 10:15 am
At least they will be when we get a load of in-car wifi!!!!! (I am such a geek.) - George Carlin is Gone Monday, 23 June 2008, 4:34 am
I once bet a guy in college that I could watch a George Carlin special on HBO without laughing. I did it, but it wasn’t at all easy. There is going to be a void left by Carlin dying. - Accepted Behaviors Tend to Increase Thursday, 19 June 2008, 12:15 pm
If you become too accepting of a condition that you really don’t want to encourage, you might just end up with unintended consequences.
Bwah hah hah. The twist in this is that Papa John’s is largely franchised, so unless some mega-franchisee has both DC and Cleveland (or all the stores are company-owned), the company that made the shirts is most likely not the same company that’s offering the 23 cent pizzas. Probably at least one interesting conversation between people in corporate franchisee relations and one or more franchisees. Gotta wonder if corporate is eating the loss on Cleveland franchisee discounts. And if they are, gotta also wonder if the suburban Cleveburg franchisees are ticked that they didn’t get the 23-cent promo. Walk into one and ask…I bet you’ll get an ear full.