Shaq Made a Pizza and It's Just Really Big
By Kyle Koster | Jun 29 2020
Papa John's is going to get some free native advertising here because their marketing idea is so plainly amusing it merits mention. Starting today, the pizza chain, which is really looking to rebrand itself after some unfortunate choices by its creator, is boldly stepping into the future with a new pizza called The Shaq-a-Roni. It's the result of a collaboration with board member Shaquille O'Neal.
So, what kind of idea did O'Neal come up with? A fairly predictable one. This pizza is just freaking big, man.
Here it is: The Shaq-a-Roni from Papa John's, an extra-large pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni and cut into really big slices. The pizza was launched in collaboration with board member @SHAQ $PZZA pic.twitter.com/jQQ4ITYvup
— Jonathan Maze (@jonathanmaze) June 29, 2020
The 16-inch pie has extra cheese and 66 slices of pepperoni. It's also cut into larger slices than normal. The commitment to a singular bit is both admirable and pays off. It's quite clear what happened here. They went to Shaq for a groundbreaking idea in pizza construction and he had one note: make it big, like me, Shaq. By that metric, flawless execution.
We all know pizza is great. But how many times have you been chewing it and wondering why you're not also thinking about one of the NBA's best big men? The Shaq-a-Roni solves that problem. The league may be going to a smaller, more position-less system, yet it's great to know there's still room for a large, in-charge guy in the deliverable game.