Papa Johns is watching what you buy. Not in a vague, “we use cookies” way. They’re actually tracking your grocery purchases to figure out when you’re running low on food.
Here’s how it works. Papa Johns partnered with NBCUniversal, Instacart, and ad agency Carat. They built a custom audience of people who regularly buy staples — eggs, milk, meat, produce — on Instacart. Based on that data, they predict which days you’ll run out of groceries. Then they hit you with a pizza ad on NBCU streaming content.
The ads get personal. QR codes with calls to action like “Light on groceries?” or “Empty fridge?” They even customize based on whether you buy meat regularly.
Carat’s chief investment officer Carrie Drinkwater said the goal is reaching hungry consumers by “knowing what is in their fridge without being too creepy.”
“Without being too creepy.” That’s the actual quote.
Bruce Schneier, who wrote about this, points to a trick from 2012. Target figured out a teen was pregnant before her dad did. Their solution? Hide the knowledge in other, wrong information. So Papa Johns could deliberately get it wrong sometimes. That makes it less creepy.
But still. Ugh.
