If you’ve been watching TV recently, you might have seen the new Domino’s ads that promote their newly reinvented pizza. We’d like to take this opportunity to give a big shout-out to the creative team for such a great campaign. When it comes to the phrase “truth in advertising,” brands usually take that to mean, “as long as I’m not breaking any laws, it’s okay.” It’s a rarity to see brands actually take on criticism head-on and take proactive steps to change perception. That’s exactly what Domino’s has done with their “Pizza Turnaround” national campaign that has been making waves.
The campaign, which celebrates the company’s 50th anniversary, has a certain shock factor that everyone can appreciate. It’s one thing to address criticisms behind closed doors, but Domino’s actually went as far as to air footage of focus group members and Tweeters absolutely blasting their pizza. One person described their crust as “tasting like cardboard” while another described their product as “a sorry excuse for pizza.” The negative comments kept coming and Domino’s let it all hang out. To say that this was a risky PR move is an understatement, but Domino’s has been down that road before. Just last year a YouTube video of two of their employees doing some pretty disgusting things to their pizzas while making them went viral and caught the nation’s attention. The employees were fired but the damage was already done. This time, Domino’s made the first move. Not only did they reinvent their pizza from top to bottom, they went back to their critics and asked them to try it again. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
As with any campaign nowadays, social media has also played a huge role in the campaign. With over 9,000 followers on Twitter, Domino’s has added a team of people that monitor the site all day and do everything from directing negative comments to their customer care website to simply saying “thank you” to those with positive feedback about their new product. Their Facebook has more than 400,000 fans and similarly addresses the positive and negative criticisms. Finally, their campaign website is also worth checking out. They have a live #newpizza Twitter feed and their documentary video is truly inspiring. We’ve posted it below. Obviously, they won’t be able to please everyone. There were some that liked their pizza the way it was. All in all, though, their approach is one that their customers can respect. Kudos, Domino’s.