World Class Faculty & Research / December 1, 2016

Stunt Marketing or No, Domino’s Has Refurbished its Brand

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Last week, Domino's Pizza delivered a pizza by reindeer in Japan. And before that, it started delivering pies by drone in New Zealand. Neither method is likely to become a mainstay delivery method for the Michigan-based pizza giant, but experts say that both demonstrate its willingness to adapt, to take some chances and to try a few gimmicks.  

The publicity ploys follow a series of more-substantive ad campaigns that proved pivotal in rehabbing its brand after an employee-prank video crisis in 2009. The subsequent target of late-night talk show jokes has become a favorite on Wall Street as the second largest pizza chain, by sales, to Pizza Hut.

The arrival in 2010 of CEO J. Patrick Doyle and an advertising campaign built around a focus group helped spur Domino's resurgence, says marketing professor Henry C. Boyd III. "That campaign reflected what we try to teach in the classroom," he says. "Go to your customers for a candid discussion about what they think of the product – maybe they say the sauce tastes like ketchup; the crust tastes like cardboard. Tell them, ‘We hear you,' then promise to change the product, and deliver." Domino's added transparency to its method by publicizing the process.

The pizza maker further stoked its comeback by focusing on its niche as a delivery innovator, with about half of its 800 personnel at headquarters specializing in software and analytics. Its Apple Watch app was introduced earlier this year, emphasizing the company's distinction for tech-based ways for customer-order placing and tracking. Its "Tweet a Pizza" system lets customers order pizza by way of emoji.  

"As consumers, we're all drawn to convenience, Boyd says. "Time is the new money and if you can get something to me in a quick, efficient fashion – even though it might not be top-shelf quality pizza, but a good pizza – I'll be happy."

Domino's also crowdsourced auto designers to create its "DXP" vehicle, which boasts a single seat and is equipped with an 80-pizza-capacity warming oven. "It screams Domino's Pizza all over it," a Domino's franchisee was quoted as saying in a GeekWire article. "It screams delivery car."

"This can further build in wonderful top-of-mind awareness," Boyd says. "The effect can be comparable to that of Amazon's delivery vehicles displaying the famous Amazon logo."

Smith School marketing professor Roland Rust says "delivery" stands out in how Domino's has broadly improved its quality, and "the customized delivery vehicles are a competitive advantage." 

However, Domino's latest delivery innovation – by "reindeer" – appears to lack DPX's presumed staying power. The company recently revealed that trainers are preparing deer in northern Japan to deliver through that region's wintry terrain. Delivery sleds will be equipped with GPS driver trackers, and a custom app's reindeer icon will enable customers to track their pizzas in real time.

While the concept is fun and holiday-season timely, it's "stunt marketing" that appears lackluster, says Smith School marketing professor Rosallina Ferraro. "While the business press might be talking about it, I don't think it, in itself, will have enough traction to really excite people to talk about Domino's," she says. Regarding a promotional "training" video posted at several sites, Ferraro says "it's not particularly funny enough to elicit heavy sharing… I'm not sure that anyone who sees this video will think too deeply about the delivery mechanism." 

She adds that Domino's drone delivery trials launched in New Zealand in early November represents another — but more plausible — case of  the company's stunt marketing. And, Domino's recent campaigns aren't tech-based. The company in late 2015 became the first U.S. pizza chain to operate in Milan, Italy, where pizza is an institution and where one Italian news outlet chided the move as akin to "selling ice cubes to Eskimos." Boyd notes Domino's in Italy is "sort of challenging the natural order of things," but they could establish a connection with younger, less-tradition-focused customers. 

Capturing Italian customers, against the odds, would cap Domino's resurgence, says Boyd. "That viral video demoralized the employees and really, really hurt the brand, and yet they were able to come back." 

Rust admits he never would have predicted such a strong Domino's comeback. But, he adds, it boils down to simplicity. "They just improved their quality significantly, especially with respect to delivery," he says. "It should be obvious that if a brand improves its quality, the reputation of the brand will improve."

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The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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