Domino’s is tweaking its ad strategy to tout the quality of its food—a complete 180 from the ground-breaking campaign it ran 16 years ago in what proved a seminal move by the pizza giant. Back then, it acknowledged that its pies were abominable; the ads spotlighted customers who asserted the pizza was the worst they had ever tasted, and they disparaged the product as little better than cardboard smeared with ketchup. After detailing how god-awful the pizza had been for 50 years, the ads went on to herald a revision for the ages.
CNN said it might have been the weirdest TV ad in history. But it worked. The campaign was a turning point for Domino’s, leading to its emergence as the nation’s largest pizza chain.
Now the brand is taking the reverse tack. Will it work? It’s hard to say, because there have been so few parallels in the industry’s past, but there were a few that provide a rough comparison. Like the time KFC changed its name to FKC in exasperation over an operational challenge.
Get a sense of how bad attributes can become good marketing points by listening to this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind.
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