I have never seen a brand lay it on the line the way that Domino’s has over the past 3 to 4 months.
The campaign began with the admission that the old recipe was horrible and that something needed to change. This admission was not done privately in a board room full of Domino’s executives — it was done publicly on television, radio, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
This was a full blown confession.
The company began promoting the new pizza in December –
For the three months ending at the beginning of January, the company’s profit climbed to $23.6 million, or 41 cents per share.
Talk About A Thick Skin
Domino’s execution of this strategy didn’t end with the courageous public admission of guilt.
A new website was launched — dubbed Pizza Turnaround where social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are embraced. And when I say embraced — I mean EMBRACED!
A live Twitter feed was placed on the site — that included the good, the bad and the ugly. When the campaign first launched, it was almost painful to watch the live Twitter feed full of slings and arrows like –
This advertising and Web 2.0 campaign has put an exclamation point on the end of the statement: There is no such thing as bad press!
It’s Totally On Papa!
It appears the next leg of this dramatic campaign is to go head-to-head against the pizza that is #1 ranked for taste in the pizza delivery business — Papa John’s. The impetus for this campaign was the dead last ranking that Domino’s received in consumer polls based on taste.
Now, they are taking aim at the competition with ads like this:
Regardless of whether the pizza tastes better, there are certain unquestionable benefits to this campaign:
- Domino’s is making an effort
- Domino’s is showing it’s been listening
- Domino’s is willing to take the “heat”
- Domino’s is “making waves”
So, what are your thoughts about Domino’s use of on and off-line media to reinvent their brand?
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In Dominos’ case, I suppose desperate times (and sales) called for desperate measures.
I say that because SO many companies are terrified to “put themselves out there” so there must have been an impetus for Dominos’.
After exploring the positive benefit (of even still potentially unsatisfied customers) companies should more and more find that this newfound transparency is magical – and gets more customers/clients involved in the conversation.
PS. I tried the new pizza. And there was a reason why I did.
And it does still suck.
@Lauren — “companies should more and more find that this newfound transparency is magical – and gets more customers/clients involved in the conversation.”
Absolutely — that is the benefit — getting more people involved in the conversation — it will be interesting to see if the benefits for Domino’s can be sustained over time.