What is Dominos Pizza Thinking??

As a student of marketing, I often critique ads and marketing campaigns. Lately, I have seen none worse than those put forth by Dominos Pizza. Here are the latest three marketing disasters executed by Dominos:
Most current: The “Oh, Yes We Did” Campaign
What Dominos must have innocently thought was a good honest American turnaround story is in fact a potentially very damaging advertising campaign. While it is important for companies to face the brutal facts and pay attention to and respond to customer feedback, it is folly to make this negative feedback the focal point of one’s marketing campaign. Domino’s actually starts the commercial by showing customer feedback that states that their pizza crust tastes like cardboard, sauce resembles catsup, and cheese is processed. Sadly, in the ad the employees of Dominos and even the CEO agree with this feedback.
Companies and the product they make will always have haters. Call this the hate group. No matter how much time, money, and energy the company puts in to convince this hate group otherwise, it is not going to budge much from its original position. Conversely, the company and product will have a love group. I am sure that Dominos has a secure market of heavy users that prefer Dominos over any other Pizza franchise. These lovers need little convincing to buy Dominos, but they do like deals and the adventure of trying new products. Yet, the large majority of users will be indifferent, or the swing group. The goal of marketing is to swing this large group to the views of the love group and away from the hate group.
So when Dominos gives credit to the views of the haters, even to the extent to present their views on national TV, it only can cause harm. First, Dominos isolates the love group. Obviously now, the lovers of Dominos pizza have enjoyed a steady diet of catsup covered cardboard. You might as well tell them there is no Santa or an Easter Bunny for that matter. Second, the swing group, who was indifferent to these facts now associates Dominos Pizza with cardboard, catsup, and processed cheese. While this is not the main point of the message of the ad, it is in fact the most memorable, and alas, a brand exists only in the mind of the consumer. Last, the hate group is unlikely to switch back to Dominos, and if they do, it is reasonable to assume many of them will find new reasons to dislike the new pizza.
Finally, there is an old saying I like very much when it comes to marketing, “desperation is a very stinky cologne”. A sure sign of a desperate company is when it begins using its President/CEO in its advertising explaining how the company is improving. Until the latest from Dominos, my favorite was Dan Hess from Sprint and that black guy from Saturn who states with sad puppy dog eyes, “Saturn build cars Americans want to buy”. Another is when the company advertises its “turnaround”. Both stink of desperate acts. So how did Dominos arrive to such desperate measures? The answer lies in the last two miserable failures of marketing campaigns.



Domino’s Atkins Nightmare: the pasta bread bowl

A prime rule of food advertising is to make it look as appetizing as possible. People expect bigger than life visuals of a juicy burger. Even a McDonald’s hamburger looks like Turkish Delight. It may be a far cry from reality, but those are the rules.
Simply, the Domino’s pasta bread bowls appear hideously unappetizing- even in advertising. Most resemble a large circular discolored scab. Thus, in reality, I assume they look like something that should be flushed. Repeat purchases are unlikely, even by the disturbed.
Another flaw of this strategy was to fly in the face of current market trends. Current health trends do not like carbs. Putting pasta in a bread bowl mocks this trend the same way a man with a mullet mocks Abercrombie and Fitch.





Dominos threatens Subway with nasty sandwiches

Still not satisfied with finding new ways to abuse a pizza oven? I guess Dominos wanted to cash in on the toasted sub craze. However, putting nasty pizza meat and cheese between bread and rolling it through the pizza oven is not very competitive. Dominos missed the mark here in food quality, but that was not the biggest error.
Sandwiches are consumed, and will always be consumed primarily as a convenience food which is highly customizable. There is nothing convenient or customizable about ordering a sandwich and waiting 30 to 60 minutes. It is not cost effective for the consumer or the delivery company, assuming delivery charges and tips.
Attacking Subway was predictable, and stupid. Subway owns low cost, fresh, customizable, consistent, and convenient. That is why people eat at Subway. Dominos would have to knock down at least one of these pins to influence people to switch. Dominos chose to focus on food quality. This was a failure for Dominos because it is not a prime driver of Subway consumers, just as it is not a prime driver of McDonald’s consumers. Idiotic yes. Especially when your end product looks as horrible as this.



Conclusion: Stick to what you know, sell to the swing group through the eyes of the love group, focus on growing the average profit per customer by introducing complimentary products and bundling. Make your food look amazingly delicious. Show people eating it and saying yum. It is always “new and improved” and not “doesn’t taste like catsup covered cardboard anymore”.