It seems that everyone wants to take credit for Papa Johns’ new Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia, even artists, celebrities, athletes and influencers like DJ Khaled and Kris Jenner. At least that’s the idea behind a new multimedia advertising campaign that’s supporting the limited-time menu item’s rollout.
“The Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia was my idea, my idea,” DJ Khaled declares in a new ad spot for Papa Johns. “I invented that on a jet ski.”
Other well-known personalities have come forward to hog the credit, including basketball player Josh Hart and social media creators Tony Statovci, FaZe Rug and Caleb Pressley.
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Statovci, a TikTok influencer, claims the menu item was his idea in a video posted on May 30. Pressley made the same boast in a May 15 TikTok video, noting, “I don’t know how Papa Johns found out about it, though. I only told everyone I know.”
Papa Johns launched the Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia in May. The flatbread-style sandwich features a crust coated with Doritos Cool Ranch seasoning and can be ordered with chicken, beef, steak or other fillings, and it comes with a side of Cool Ranch dipping sauce.
In a press release, Papa Johns said it’s “infiltrating a variety of relevant subcultures and audiences to drive awareness for the new product, taking a twist on traditional marketing to help tell the story of how the Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia came to be.”
In a statement, Jaclyn Ruelle, VP head of brand at Papa Johns, said, “As one of our biggest collaborations to date, we knew we had to make the launch of our newest menu innovation with PepsiCo Foodservice even bigger! The Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia is a bold reimagination of our classic Papadia, which led us to rethink what a campaign could look like beyond the product itself.”
Ruelle added that the Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia “tasted like ‘the best idea ever’” and merited a unique, social-first marketing campaign “to stimulate conversation and sharing. Celebrities, athletes, musicians and influencers across a multitude of cultural territories are coming together to ‘claim’ the Papadia as their creation. It’s an entertaining and authentic way of engaging new audiences, particularly our target Gen Z audience, through their favorite creators.”
The campaign will continue to roll out over the next few weeks, with additional talent partners coming out to “claim” the menu item as their own idea. The Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia will appear on the Papa Johns menu through July 23.
