I can’t believe I’m writing about Domino’s #newpizza, because I haven’t even thought about Domino’s Pizza in years, but last night I caught a commercial on television that piqued my interest.
In the commercial, Domino’s executives and employees talk about how they have listened to complaints from customers for years, and they took them to heart and have made changes. Not just lip-service changes, but actual changes to the recipe of their core offering, their pizza. On one hand, that’s great! What a tribute to customer service and interest in staying in business for the long-haul. On the other hand, it’s a little risky – what if existing customers don’t like the changes? What if they result in a price increase? What if people don’t believe it and still don’t give Domino’s a fresh try?
Here’s the documentary that tells the marketing tale of this new chapter for Domino’s. So many lessons to be gleaned from just this video approach… you can visit the mini-site and see their social media tools and approach also, at http://www.pizzaturnaround.com.
Social Media B2B has a post on this campaign, and asked a great question:
Does your company care enough about its customers to rebuild a bad product from scratch?
For small businesses, I know how tough this is – these projects, ventures and products are our BABIES, often the result of the hard work of one or only a few people. For large companies, such as Domino’s, the attachment might not be as great (maybe the original creators of a product are no longer even there) but the processes and support systems and inventory and suppliers that all go into making something as simple as a pizza can be tremendous. Changing things at this level is not something to be done lightly, and typically involves a significant cash investment. I applaud Domino’s for spending the time to research, listen, and take steps to doing something they’ve done for years, a different way.
I have to admit, I want to try their new pizza. I hope it’s as good as the promo for it sounds like it could be. What do you think of this new campaign, and if not a Domino’s customer, would this entice you to try it?
I thought it was inspiring how they posted the customers’ complaints up on the test kitchen walls (in the commercial anyway). What a great way to inspire, focus and drive employees toward meeting the customer’s needs!
http://kriscolvin.com Kris Colvin
I found that impressive too, Chris, and you’re right to point out that may have been staged. That would have been hard at the level of the individual restaurant, who I assume has to use the “company recipe” for some sort of brand consistency. But, if in the corporate kitchen, that would be a great way to remind yourself daily there’s a wake-up call you have to answer.
http://www.aspirekc.com/Blog Shawn Kinkade
Kris – I was just thinking about this the other day. On one hand, how many years have they gone knowing they serve a poor product. However, as you point out, this is a huge fundamental change that takes some significant leadership to pull off (think how seldom we see major changes from big companies).
