In related news, as good as our neighbors at Pizzeria Stella are, we hit Tacconelli's in Moorestown last night, and it may be better. Excellent charring on the thin crust, and our white pie with shrimp and sausage was transcendent.
added: Slate's Seth Stevenson:
Of course it seems risky for a brand to go negative on itself. But imagine if Domino's had spent two years and tens of millions of dollars reformulating its pizza (which it did), and then launched the revamped pie with a simple "new and improved" spot. A "We took our great pizza and made it even yummier!" kind of ad. Would anyone notice? Would anyone talk or tweet about the fact that the Domino's recipe had been altered? "Google the words new and improved," says Domino's chief marketing officer Russell Weiner, "and I think you'll get about 160 million hits. They're two of the more overused words in marketing. They've become wallpaper."
I did like their pizza though, which is funny. Pizza snobs hate me for it, of course.
ReplyDeleteI just hit Pizzeria Stella on Friday night for the first time and really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it really Pizza Hut that needs a turnaround? Domino's has always been fine. Crust a little fluffy, but the sauce and cheese were good. Whereas that plasticine substance that Pizza Hut calls cheese is the only thing more foul than their flabby crust, which manages to be stale/crunchy and soggy at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI am now craving white pizza with shrimp and sausage. Thanks for that.
I kind of love that Domino's is running commercials essentially spelling out that their pizza tastes bad. The funny thing is that Domino's pizza, while quite bad, is actually probably the best of all the gross fast food pizza options. I wonder if I should try the "new" Domino's...or just stick with what I'd decided, which is not to eat fast food pizza anymore because even frozen pizza is better.
ReplyDeleteI like the premise. For the last 20 years, American business has been too willing to make stuff cheaper and crappier and think we wouldn't notice. For some company, ANY company, to recognize it publicly and vow to reverse it is a breath of fresh air. I'm willing to give them a try again.
ReplyDeleteWhat's next? A Kohl's ad that says that their clothes will last more than ten washings?
There are only 3 pizza places that will deliver to my house: Papa John's, Pizza Hut, and Domino's. I'd always avoided Domino's because, well, it did taste like ketchup on cardboard to me. As I sat there watching the commercial, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should give Domino's a try now." So, the commercial clearly worked on at least one person.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for those conversations between the ad agency and client. When was the last time a commercial campaign was built on admitting fault? I kind of love it.
ReplyDeleteThe Domino's ad is slightly predated by the "Windows 7 was my idea" ads, in which Microsoft basically says it recognizes all of the complaints about its flagship product and the new version won't suck anymore. Come to think of it, after you and I bought the bankrupt General Motors the company released some ads saying it messed up and would focus on building better cars. Maybe we are on the front edge of an honesty trend in advertising. Next up? Probably will see something similar in NBC's promos for post-Olympics Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Of course, I wouldn't object to ATT getting on the bandwagon and apologizing for unleashing their spotty coverage, horrible customer service and increasingly annoying Luke Wilson ads on the general public.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Domino's financial condition, but I interpreted the campaign as "We're about to go under unless we make some improvements; we have nothing to lose, so let's throw a Hail Mary and admit we've been sucking." I could be way off base, but it did make me curious to try Domino's again (it is possible that I haven't had it since college in the early 1990s when it was the cheapest thing around with specials every night of the week).
ReplyDeleteWe have lousy pizza delivery options in the D.C. suburbs. My wife loves Pizza Hut, and I don't, so I was secretly happy when our local franchise went out of business recently. Papa John's delivers to us as well, and I like it ok, but she hates it. The local mom-and-pop places are pretty mediocre also. There's a local chain called Ledo's that we both love (pickup only) but it's a very unique kind of pizza (thin, almost crackery crust) that you really have to be in the mood for. So I'm hoping Domino's really has improved, because that could be our answer.
I actually did an IRS audit out at Domino's Farms. Due to downsizing from the Tom Monaghan era, they were subleasing the space and the IRS took them up on it. The place still had some of Tom's eccentricities, from the cell phone tower, http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/default.aspx?f=1&guid=ae5c7c18-e4fd-4f55-9111-addd4754ecdb&lat=41.64435&lon=-82.835317&t=4&id=Flagpole%20Cell%20Tower%20-%20South%20Bass%20Island,%20Ohio&gid=2&st=2, to the bison grazing outside our window.
ReplyDeleteDomino's financial conditiion is fine. They've been private for a while and now that their CEO David Brandon is now Michigan athletic director as opposed to a Republican candidate for Governor in 2010, I can admit that he's pretty good at what he does.
ReplyDeleteWatts, I'm tremendously jealous that you can still get Papa John's delivered. In my neck of the woods, it has since gone the way of Little Caeser's, with only one location and no delivery. I have a wicked soft spot for Papa John's sauce.
ReplyDeleteI've started making my own pizza dough though, and I kind of love both the flavor and the process. I also have 2 really good local places right across the street from my apartment complex that we can do takeout from when I don't feel like cooking (which is way more often than it should be).
The phone number for the Domino's in Gainesville, FL is (352) FRE-BEER, so I had more than a passing familiarity with their product in my college days. The fact that I remember the number 10 years after graduating is a strong indicator of why they have the number one sales ranking of all Domino's nationally. And as much as I fondly remember late nights eating their thin crust "cracker pizza", I just can't bring myself to go back- clever ad campaign or not.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me happy. Thanks, bad dad.
ReplyDeleteI never had a problem with Domino's but there's such a great local pizza place nearby that it's worth it to pick it up. Unlikely that we'll be ordering from a major chain again.
Headquarted in Michigan and it barely qualifies as flatbread with red sauce, much less "pizza."
ReplyDeleteHeadquarted in Michigan and it barely qualifies as flatbread with red sauce, much less "pizza."
ReplyDeleteI understand that none of these chain places make the greatest pizza you'll ever eat, but there are times when I don't want to have to deal with picking up a pizza from one of the local places. My local Domino's is completely serviceable when I'm craving a hand-tossed pepperoni, onions and pineapple pizza. I do wish the DC area had more of the regional Midwest chains - I'd take Marco's or Cottage Inn over Domino's, Pizza Hut or the local chains here.
ReplyDeleteI completely blame Domino's for my freshman 15 (which I decided to take to new heights by adding more weight each subsequent year of college). Pizza. At night. As a snack! Who knew? [aside--I've since shed the weight, having realized carboloading at midnight serves no real purpose other than absorbing alcohol.]
ReplyDeleteBeing that I live in NYC, it would be shameful for me to indulge in Dominos. However, I have friends who swear by it because that's what their kids like to eat. I'm sure such parenting could be considered child abuse.
Anyway...good luck to them. I hope the ad campaign works. As many of you said in your comments, perhaps it will inspire others to insert some honesty into their ad campaigns. Like maybe the Gap--"Hey, we realize all of our clothes are sized incorrectly, but what size 14 doesn't want to think she's a size 2?"
What is this Dominos of which you speak?
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
KR of Long Island
Donna, my college town's pizza of choice was Papa John's, which was the only one that delivered late into the evening. I also remember it fondly (the extra large that wasn't really cooked in the middle stands out), but cannot even look at a Papa John's pizza these days, more than 10 years later. And did I REALLY dip my crust into BUTTER sauce??? What was I thinking? Credit the high metabolism of youth, I guess, that I didn't leave college weighing 300 pounds. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI can attest that Domino's is MUCH improved, btw. No good local chains deliver, except for the deep dish place that I can only handle so often, and usually my lazy wins out over my desire for better pizza in the battle of "Will we pick it up?"
College town - Papa John's makes a killing here. And on Tuesday nights, carry-out only, you can get a large pizza with one topping for $5. No limit on # of pies.
ReplyDeleteKR, does Long Island now have a Giordano's or Gino's out there? ;)
ReplyDeleteYou know what? Neither Domino's nor Pizza Hut delivers where I live. I will never get used to the lack of delivery here in Oakland.
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong to admit I like Domino's just the way it is (was)?
ReplyDeleteRelated article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011201696.html?hpid=topnews
ReplyDeleteI'm SO reminded of when they did this on Slings and Arrows.
ReplyDelete