I was trying to think of an end of year post about a group of companies I watch closely for marketing campaigns and that I think do an amazing job, I thought of Dominos pizza for creating amazing marketing campaigns every year, as well as ones that are mimicked, mentioned and even parodied in tv shows. They constantly come up with new ideas, gimmicks and then they throw them into their competitors faces, monetize them and even create side brands, merchandise and everything else with it. The company is very smart and their marketing team is amazing with their campaigns. Here are three of the Dominos pizza campaigns that I love and why. (BTW, I haven’t eaten their pizza in over a year now, but I might have to try their new pan pizza when I cheat on my diet this weekend.)
1. 30 minute delivery or it’s free
This is something almost every person in the US knows and has heard mentioned…if you are old enough to remember the commercials. If Domino’s took more than 30 minutes to get the pizza you ordered from your phone (landline) to your house, then your pizza is free. The commercial’s theme was 30 minutes or less. After they launched this new time frame campaign for speed, it took off. You still see it being mentioned on tv shows like Kind of the Hill, Ninjago, Garfield (I leave cartoons on for my cat during the day so he stays off my computer lol.) and even in numerous sitcoms. You’ll see them or hear people saying that their pizza took longer than 30 minutes so they get it free, or they’ll reference something else in 30 minutes or less. Some tv shows have even done entire episodes about getting a free pizza or something free because the delivery person took to long. The episodes have the owners of the house hiding, setting up traps, etc… This campaign is extremely old and even though they don’t run the ads anymore, people still use the campaign as the basis for jokes, tv shows and most people still remember it. They actually set a standard for delivery where people expect their food within 30 to 45 minutes and many restaurants now just try to shoot for that same time frame, even if they aren’t competitors or sell pizza.
2. The Noid
The Noid was a character created by Dominos as a promotional method in the 1980’s. They not only created a viral campaign that everyone loved, but they ended up branching it out into merchandise including Avoid the Noid graphics, figurines and even a pizza eating game for the Nintendo. The Noid became so popular that the brand is still remembered by people who love the 80’s. If you show a picture of the Noid or say the Noid to people who lived in the 80’s, many of them will still remember it. Being an amazing marketing giant, Dominos capitalized on the Noid and even found ways to sell pizzas through the products and non pizza merchandise.
When you would play the video game, he would have pizza eating contests and everything revolved around pizza. By the time you were done playing, you had to have one. The different pictures and posters had hidden images and messages that would make you crave pizza and because of the relevance and the commercials running with the Noid, people would instantly want pizza when they would see it. Domino’s created a character like the Taco Bell Chihuahua, but instead of it being cute, it made you want and crave pizza. Instead of having a catch line like Yo Quiero, the image actually made you want food, not laugh and make jokes. The Noid was one of the best characters and mascots, was turned into it’s own brand and then the brand and merchandise sold the pizzas again so it was a huge revenue driving machine.
3. The fresh and high end food commercials
These are my favorites right now. Not only did they come at a social media backlash with commercials about where their “fresh” ingredients come from, but they did it with in your face advertising. I actually ended up buying their pizzas because of the new crust, the new recipes, etc… and was shocked that it was better. Then it seemed like the quality started to drop again with certain things. The in your face advertising like when they drop the walls of the trailer and people are sitting in a field on a farm were amazing. They now have one with pan pizza dough vs. frozen. The entire point is that they make everything fresh. They go against their older campaigns of 30 minutes or less and being fast, by saying it may take longer, but they are also pitching a higher quality product for a reasonable or inexpensive price that everyone can afford.
Domino’s pizza is an amazing company for marketing. Their campaigns are memorable and their branding is almost always amazing. I love that they re-brand all of the time and constantly come up with new techniques. If you’re looking for examples of how a company can change brands, strategies and overall messaging and keep their company going, Domino’s pizza is one of the best examples. Feel free to share your favorite below.
