How Domino’s re-launch led to a new way of communicating
Everyone predicted it would be a corporate disaster for Domino’s to air criticism of its old product. Instead, the gambit led to a huge spike in sales—and greater trust in the brand.
Four years ago, Domino’s Pizza shocked the marketing world by describing its old product with words like “cardboard” and “ketchup”—but swearing its pizzas had improved.
The campaign touting a whole new pizza surprised industry skeptics by resulting in a 14 percent growth in sales in one quarter, says Tim McIntyre, vice president of communications for Domino’s Pizza.
What are the lessons for other organizations? If you represent a hospital or a bank, he says, you’re not about to turn over a new leaf by announcing you’ve been misdiagnosing patients or mishandling their money for 50 years.
The takeaway is the importance of openness and learning from your detractors, McIntyre says in the Ragan Training video, “How Domino’s Pizza broke all the rules of traditional marketing to turn its brand around.”
“You almost have no choice but to embrace transparency these days,” McIntyre says.
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