A brand lesson from Domino’s

Executive overview

In this post, we’ll get a brand lesson from Domino’s.

Domino’s Pizza was a brand in crisis. In the early 2000’s it was seeing customer complaints, plummeting stock prices and technological advances threatening their business model. In 2009, they decided to do something about it. And in doing so, when from Domino’s, a brand in crisis. To Domino’s a great brand lesson.

In a time of severe ridicule and challenge, Domino’s chose to embrace their negative position and use it to inspire positive change. Instead of turning defensive or “digging their heels in”, they welcomed their strategic inflection point and took action.

The result: a multi-year revamp of their brand and business model.

Their approach

Foundational fixes

  • Own the problem
    • Domino’s did the BEST thing any brand can do, they owned and were completely transparent about their negatives.
    • Brand learning: Showcasing you are open to learning, fixing and enhancing is a POWERFUL relationship building tool. Recommend you have fixes identified and almost to completion before unveiling to your B2C audience (recommend different approach for B2B partnerships).
  • Product
    • Customers were comparing the pizza to cardboard. Domino’s had to reimagine their main product, fresh ingredients. Then, they put this enhancement on their pizza box (see image).
    • Brand learning: It’s not enough to just do it, you must do it (well) and then tell customers about it. They are busy, they are selfish, don’t make them draw the conclusions on their own. Highlight it for them in a unique an entertaining way.
  • Space redesign
    • After product comes experience, which is rooted for the food industry in your locations. Domino’s looked and saw many of their locations were run-down, old and not in-line with newer designs customers expected. But most importantly, they were not serving customer pick-up needs. “We want to be a place that people feel comfortable in,” said Russell Weiner, CMO. Domino’s stores “are not the most welcoming.”
    • Brand learning: It’s ok to break it all down and start over. An ad campaign also accompanied this, showing real franchise owners excited to demolish a store they’d spent years making. It draws the customer in, creates intrigue and authenticity.

Transformational steps

  • Redefining the role
    • Culture change is hard, and incremental sometimes is not enough to get it done. Domino’s got buy-in from the top down to redefine why they exist. They transformed from a pizza company to an e-commerce company that happens to sell pizza. That shift gave them permission to think differently and demanded everyone act differently. As part of this shift, new things happened according to Domino’s insiders. Most importantly, marketing and IT were collaborative and strategically aligned.
    •  Brand learning: Find a way to make your business model fit current consumer trends, needs and demands. Once you can do that, you can reimagine why you exist and how you provide value to your customers.  
  • Delivering customer delight
    • With foundational fixes and tech revolution in place, Domino’s was able to shift their thinking to customer delight. There are a few ways you can go about this: product extension or product insulation. Domino’s chose insulating, what can you add to your product to make it better than your competitors. The solution: innovations like the pizza oven delivery car (who likes cold pizza – bolstered by an amazing digital experience and Domino’s AnyWare  – allowing customers to order from anywhere like slack, messenger, twitter, etc.
    • Brand learning: Having a product is not enough, you have to have a product AND the experience to become top of mind for consumers.
  • Extending to community goodness
    • With positive momentum built up, Domino’s shifted their transformation to enhancing the community through their “Paving for Pizza” promotion. This works for so many reasons, most notably, it’s disruptive: a pizza company is fixing city potholes? But it works, because Domino’s draws a clear correlation to how potholes ruin their product. When you hit a pothole, your pizza gets ruined. This is corporate social responsibility at its finest: greater good but with a very strong correlation to your product. Branding with a purpose is the number one way you can ensure these guerilla tactics say something about you, your product and your commitment to your customer.
    • Brand learning: Purpose-driven disruption and/or sponsorships allow you to do more than just good, it allows you to do good while still promoting the value of your brand and products.

The results

The Domino’s approach is working.

 200920172023
Stock price$9.20
(June 1, 2009)		$213.78
(June 1, 2023)		$313.60
(May 19, 2023)
Customer satisfaction77
(Low was 69 in 2000, 71 in 2005)		7878
(2022 score)
Chart showcasing Domino’s key performance indicators from 2009 to 2023.

Final thoughts

A brand in crisis is not the end of a brand. It IS the end of the brand as they have been operating. But if a brand can take the bold moves to look in the mirror and reflect where they are falling short – and then transform rapidly to earn customer respect – they can emerge stronger than ever from the challenge. This brand lesson from Domino’s proves that.

What brand transformation stories are your favorite? Share in the comments so we can all learn from these great stories.

References

Published
Categorized as Brand

By Katie Paullin

My professional passion is building brands that connect to customers. For 20 years I have worked on purpose-driven brands. Every day, I’m motivated knowing the work I do with my teams and colleagues is helping people and our communities. I relish developing brand foundations, delivering effective/human communications and marketing that showcases the mutually beneficial relationship a brand and consumers should enjoy.