We're on your team for engaging virtual event content
Opportunity
Starting in March 2020, the only constant was change as the entire world learned the art of the pivot. Every company had to think about events in a new way – including Papa John’s International.
The global pizza company gathers franchisees together once a year at its annual Papa John’s Franchisee Conference (PJFC). More than 1,000 franchisees across North America get together to network and learn key insights about product innovation, technology, Papa John’s culture and more — and the event is important to the franchisee business model.
Art imitates life
Thanks to the pandemic, they had to pivot quickly. Papa John’s reached out to Small Potatoes Communications to help produce educational content for six different video and multimedia learning sessions that would be distributed to franchisees after the PJFC virtual event. Franchisees could access the videos after the mainstage conference for additional learning on upcoming products, technology updates, recruiting and development updates.
Sounds easy, right? The catch was that we had only six weeks to produce six videos in addition to all the supporting assets. We had to be extremely agile and flexible, so we hit the ground running.
Approach
Each breakout session was between eight and 12 minutes long and, in addition to only having weeks to complete the videos, we needed to start drumming up excitement and registration for the event. We helped develop the creative supporting materials for the event, including a one-pager, various animation and registration email content to support the communications rollout.
We knew from previous assignments that we could have a little bit of wiggle room to push the creative envelope for this event. We also knew that by the time the event would take place – in November – video conference fatigue from the pandemic would be prevalent. Our strategy evolved to push exciting, compelling visuals and content that would keep the audience engaged.
We met with leaders and various key stakeholders to take a deep dive into what their communication priorities were. What were the essential takeaways franchisees needed to know? Did the videos need to change behaviors or just educate? These insights helped us frame the sessions and supporting materials. It also helped us develop the creative strategy and support the communications strategy.
key takeaway
Don’t let our name fool you — no matter how big of a project, we figure out a way to get it done!
We genuinely care for our clients, and we want to come through for them, every time, no matter what. We may be small, but we’re mighty when we put our minds together. Our team of creative “doers” are resilient, flexible and can rapidly scale up to meet the demands of our clients, no matter the ask. We have the ability to juggle many balls in the air at once and leverage the myriad of talents of our creative team to collaborate on complex projects and exceed expectations.
Outcome
The event was a success! In fact, it was so well received that as soon as Papa John’s leadership saw the video content, they rearranged the virtual event to include the breakout learning sessions during the mainstage agenda. Of the more than 1,000 attendees, 90% found the top-performing video, “Kitchen Innovation,” engaging and insightful.
We’re proud of our relationship with Papa John’s and the trust we have built over the years. Additional highlights of the PJFC project include:
867 live attendees or 80% attendance
10 pre-show communications supported
82% of respondents thought the mainstage was engaging and insightful
In 2019, we began our journey with Papa John’s as a creative agency partner. In that first year, we completed six multimedia projects. In 2020, we completed 30 multimedia projects (and that doesn't even count the creative assets and video we developed for the conference!). We're going stronger than ever in 2021! We are honored to have a great partnership with the talented Papa John’s team, and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for the future!