Domino’s We Stink

Around 2010 Domino’s popular pizza chain having 9000 outlets that time realized the sales had plateued. There was possibility of degrowth also.
Management went into huddle and decided to understand their consumers. After market research they found that their consumers tastes have changed and they are looking for variety and new tatstes. Based on this new insight they decided to change everything about their pizza and change their image completely. It was very bold move, but they decided to go ahead with it and a very bold marketing campaign “we stink” got born.
Company completely upgraded its product line, using new ingredients and new recipes to appeal to a changed consumer taste and new crowd as well.
As part of this campaign more importantly, Domino’s chose to criticize and even make fun of its old products, referring to its earlier crust as “cardboard.” That self-deprecating move was a bold one that really paid off for the brand.
Despite rumblings in the marketing world, sales at domestic stores soared 14.3 percent in the first full quarter after the new recipe debuted. More over Domino’s marketing push helped lift the pizza market as a whole, and the halo effect continued into next quarters as well.

Learning from the story
1. Change is the only constant. Our consumers behaviour is constantly changing. We need to be aware of the change and should be able to respond to it positively if we want to be relevant in the market for long.
2. There is beauty in the boldness. Risk begets rewards.
3. Honesty and humility is best policy. Domino’s mocked their own products and won their consumers hearts and wallets back.

Questions to ask ourselves
1. Are my consumers and their behaviours changing?
2. How can I respond positively to changed behaviours?
3. Do I need to change the whole perception of my brand altogether or incremental change will do?

If you really want to build customer centric long-term business consider this as a personal invitation to our seminar Put your Business On Autopilot