Observed Signal · Jun 16, 2026 · Partnership · Source: AdExchanger · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Papa Johns Targets Empty‑Fridge Shoppers via Instacart and NBCU
Papa Johns ran an "Empty Fridge" streaming campaign in partnership with NBCUniversal, Instacart and dentsu-owned agency Carat to reach consumers predicted to be low on groceries. Instacart supplied first‑party purchase data to build a custom audience of shoppers who regularly buy staples (eggs, milk, meat, produce) and to predict when households are likely to run out. NBCU then served tailored creatives—featuring QR codes and messages like “Empty fridge?”—within streaming inventory such as Peacock and NBC Sports during late April through mid‑June 2026. Papa Johns served different creatives based on food preferences and will measure incremental sales lift and new-customer growth using QR scans, engagement metrics and a research study. Instacart said this is the first time it made its first‑party data available for a non‑CPG brand on NBCU inventory.
Demonstrates a notable cross‑platform activation: retail first‑party purchase data (Instacart) being used to target streaming audiences on NBCU; signals expanded retail-data-to-streaming use cases and novel audience activation outside CPG, but is a single brand campaign rather than a platform-level change.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Papa Johns partnered with NBCUniversal, Instacart and Carat on an "Empty Fridge" streaming campaign.
- Instacart provided first‑party purchase data to build audiences of shoppers who commonly buy grocery staples and to predict likely days households will run out.
- NBCU served tailored streaming ads (Peacock, NBC Sports and other NBCU streaming supply) with QR codes and creatives customized by food preferences.
- Campaign ran from late April through mid‑June 2026 and aims to measure incremental sales lift, customer acquisition and brand affinity.
- Instacart confirmed this is the first time it made its first‑party data available for a brand outside the CPG category to activate on NBCU inventory.
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mappedRelated Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
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Walmart's Vizio Bets on MrBeast, Holiday Films for Streaming
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LinkedIn says don't treat leads as finish in B2B
At LinkedIn's B2Believe event in its new Empire State Building space, executives and practitioners called for a shift from lead-centric B2B marketing to a 'full journey' approach that links signals, targeting, creative, full journey, and measurement. Jae Oh, senior director of product management, revealed that fewer than 10% of upper-funnel audiences make it into bottom-funnel campaigns, urging marketers to connect awareness with demand capture. Research from LinkedIn's B2B Institute with eMarketer showed 77% of marketers say they no longer target individuals, yet only 31% have a playbook for activating audiences down the funnel. Practitioners from Canva, SAP, Mastercard, and others shared examples of aligning marketing and sales on common signals. LinkedIn also outlined a product roadmap focused on cost-per-opportunity targeting, multi-format campaigns, agentic workflows, and incrementality forecasting.
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