Papa John’s – Eleazar Hernandez

Local Flavor, National Brand: A Visual Strategy Rooted in San Antonio Pride

Papa John's wanted to entice the large bilingual San Antonio consumer to promote their new pizza toppings. The solution was puro San Antonio.

Deliverables: Localized visual strategy and audience engagement framework, Bilingual, cross-cultural messaging system, Multi-channel creative direction, Branded hashtag system and campaign architecture, Community activation strategy (event integration and geo-social engagement), Design of adaptable assets for franchise-wide implementation

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PAPA JOHN’S — “PURO PIZZA TIME”
A Bilingual Visual Strategy Rooted in Cultural Relevance
Papa John’s wanted to grow their market share in San Antonio, one of the most proudly bilingual, culturally rich cities in Texas. The goal: drive excitement and relevance for new product offerings among a Hispanic-majority audience known for local pride, inside jokes, and regional flavor.

Strategic Approach: Local Voice Meets National Brand

We collaborated directly with Papa John’s franchise owners to identify opportunity gaps and community insights. Our breakthrough came in the form of a single phrase: “Puro San Antonio.” It’s a local term that perfectly captures the attitude, rhythm, and shared experience of the Alamo City, and it became the foundation of a campaign designed to make pizza part of the city’s personality.

We played off the familiar phrase with a branded twist:

Papa John’s Cheeseburger Pizza? Puro San Antonio?
Nah… Puro Pizza Time.

Execution: A Multi-Platform Strategy with Local Flavor

TV spots tailored for key regional time slots during high viewership
Short-form digital video for Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat
Pop-up sampling activations during local events like Fiesta, complete with geo-tagged Snap filters
Social-first content tagged with #PuroPizzaTime, merging cultural pride with brand playfulness
In-store signage and localized graphics for retail continuity

By embedding the campaign directly into how San Antonians speak, celebrate, and share, we turned pizza into part of the city’s language. The result was a culturally grounded, omni-channel campaign that felt less like advertising and more like an inside joke shared with millions.

The strength of the campaign wasn’t just in the tagline—it was in how we systematized it across every touchpoint, ensuring that "Puro Pizza Time" became more than a phrase; it became a local badge of belonging. We developed a flexible visual toolkit that could be adapted by franchise owners across the region, from in-store menus and window clings to geo-targeted social assets and branded event collateral. By embedding the brand into the rhythm of San Antonio life, we turned everyday moments into opportunities for connection, proving that a national brand can feel personal, relevant, and proudly local when the strategy is rooted in cultural fluency.

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