It’s common knowledge that if you want good pizza, you don’t order in from Domino’s. They are famous for their “cardboard crust” and processed cheese, no matter how many great deals they put together or fancy tracking devices they put on their website (did you know you can track your Domino’s order down to the name of the employee putting it in the oven?!). But on their 50th anniversary, Domino’s decided to face the music and do something about their panned pizza.

Domino’s vowed to revamp their recipe from the ketchup reminiscent sauce to the lackluster toppings.
Now, I wouldn’t have known about any of this though if Domino’s hadn’t taken a real risk with a transparent advertising campaign, creating viral videos of actual Domino’s employees owning up to the fact that yes, everyone thinks their pizza is terrible.

This video, “The Pizza Turnaround”, shows the Domino’s team evaluating the market’s opinion of them, accepting that they had some work to do and then, doing it! Publicly embracing the fact that they were delivering bunk pies was a bold move but definitely one that evokes confidence from the consumers. Domino’s comes out of this looking devoted to quality and essentially, their customers.

“The strategy for the transparency and the campaign only worked because we were very confident that we had an absolutely perfect pizza,” – Patrick Doyle, Domino’s CEO

Here’s the real question though,
have they created the perfect pizza?

Well, their stocks have gone up- today they’re being traded at $11.74, nearly triple its 52 week low of $4.76 and has some heavy handed influencers enthusing it.

“Is that pizza or did an angel just give birth in my mouth?” – Steven Colbert

Whether Steven had to do this bit at the behest of his sponsors or if it was genuine is questionable but that doesn’t diminish the effect Steven Colbert has on a relatively large chunk of Domino’s market.

Some business marketing experts are debating that this is a horrible move on Domino’s part, isolating their previously loyal customers by basically telling them they have bad taste as well as potential customers by pointing out that they were knowingly selling horrible pizzas this whole time.

Overall, this campaign will be a win for Domino’s just on the curiosity it’s piquing.
Now, I’m just sitting waiting for lunch thinking, “Hm, I wonder if that new Domino’s recipe is any good?”