{"id":45065,"date":"2024-12-16T10:52:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=45065"},"modified":"2024-12-16T10:52:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:52:42","slug":"weiner-dominos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/weiner-dominos\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Wisdom, From the Alum Who Helped Turn Domino\u2019s Around"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Each year, now-CEO Russell Weiner \u201990 comes back to the Hill to speak about the secret sauce behind the pizza chain\u2019s renaissance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how you slice it\u2014or whatever other pizza-related pun you\u2019d care to employ\u2014in 2008, the future was looking grim for Domino\u2019s<\/a>. The company\u2019s stock price had dipped below $3 a share. Sales had fallen for several years in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its pizza\u2014consistently ranked dead last among national brands\u2014had become the butt of jokes on late-night TV and social media. In focus groups, consumers compared its crust to cardboard, its sauce to ketchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump ahead to 2020: the Domino\u2019s stock price closed out the year at more than $383\u2014a 9,834% increase. The brand that had been in crisis had become a success story\u2014and it was due, in large part, to a brash marketing campaign conceived by Russell Weiner \u201990<\/a>, then its chief marketing officer.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"MBA
MBA students enjoy complimentary pizza in the Sage atrium after Weiner’s talk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Arts & Sciences alum is now the company\u2019s CEO. And in the years since he helped spearhead its remarkable turnaround, he has regularly returned to the Hill to share his wisdom with MBA students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the fall 2024 semester, the former government major addressed a packed lecture hall as a guest speaker for a marketing class taught by Prof. Kaitlin Woolley \u201912<\/a>. Cornellians<\/em> sat in\u2014and, like all good students, we took notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among his lessons:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You only have one shot to tell the world something that matters\u2014and for <\/strong>people to believe you. Don\u2019t blow it!<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With that make-or-break principle in mind, the company spent nearly two years working to improve its pizza and to devise its audacious marketing campaign, which launched in January 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing kills a marketing campaign faster than a bad product.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Weiner and his team planned how to market the pizza, they oversaw the culinary staff working to create the optimal combo of crust, sauce, and cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re running marketing and you\u2019re going to be responsible for the sales results,\u201d he told the students, \u201cmake sure you have a role in developing that product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 and, conversely, a negative brand reputation can discredit a good product.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As part of the company\u2019s research, Domino\u2019s put its existing pizzas in a competitor\u2019s box\u2014and tasters ranked them higher. And when it put that competitor\u2019s pizza into a Domino\u2019s box? The ratings dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re running marketing and you\u2019re going to be responsible for the sales results, make sure you have a role in developing that product.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt some point, it just became ingrained in people\u2019s minds,\u201d\u00a0he said of the pizza\u2019s perceived low quality. \u201cSo no matter what we did or how good it was, we had to do marketing that would overcome and change that perception.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find big ideas, look for the \u201ctensions.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By that, Weiner means potentially fraught issues\u2014either regarding the brand, the consumer, or society at large\u2014that will resonate strongly with audiences. \u201cIf you break that tension, you\u2019ve got all that pent-up energy behind your message,\u201d he explained. \u201cThink of it as a catapult for your ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are thousands of such tensions; the trick is finding the ones in which the brand, the customer, and broader culture intersect. The job of a marketer is to figure out how to break all three of those tensions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you break that tension, you\u2019ve got all that pent-up energy behind your message. Think of it as a catapult for your ideas.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, what tensions did Domino\u2019s use, and how did it break them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weiner took students back to the late Aughts: in the wake of the financial crisis, Americans were losing their homes. CEOs of auto manufacturers and financial institutions were begging Congress to bail them out\u2014and flying to those bailout hearings via corporate jet. There was a widespread sense that pillars of society were tone deaf and could no longer be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of all of this, Weiner said, Americans were yearning for someone to listen to them and tell them the truth; if industries and institutions weren\u2019t going to do it, then Domino\u2019s would break that tension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Domino's
Weiner joined Domino’s as chief marketing officer in fall 2008, after a decade at PepsiCo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Remember, he said, Domino\u2019s knew a hard truth about itself: its pizza didn\u2019t taste very good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domino’s decided to be the brand that listened to customers and did something about it, by admitting its shortcomings in the most public way possible and completely changing its pizza recipe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe creative brief to the advertising agency was, \u2018In today\u2019s world of deceit and mistrust, Domino\u2019s will connect with customers by being unexpectedly real and transparent\u2014by actually listening and telling the truth.\u2019 That was it: one line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always manage expectations … and risk <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In short, Weiner said, \u201cAnyone who tells you that you can turn around a brand with one ad is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given how entrenched\u2014and how low\u2014opinions of Domino\u2019s had become, Weiner made it clear that it wasn\u2019t a quick fix: the campaign would be a year long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more fun than running marketing,\u201d Weiner observed. \u201cThe one downside is, you\u2019re the very first one to be blamed if sales don\u2019t go the right way. So you need to set expectations. In our case, we needed to align with management that the new product would cost more, and the campaign needed to be bold to break through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anyone who tells you that you can turn around a brand with one ad is ridiculous.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And what about the risk of running a multimedia campaign admitting its pizza wasn\u2019t good? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tested everything from the product to the advertising,” he said. “We de-risked a huge risk. The research told us the campaign would break through and drive customers to try the new pizza, which was significantly improved\u2014not only better than Domino\u2019s original product, but better than our competitors’.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t simply market: tell a story.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like a play, the Domino\u2019s turnaround campaign\u2014launched in January 2010\u2014would unfold in several acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opener, Weiner said, had this underlying message: \u201cUnlike those banks and the government and the car companies, Domino’s listened to our critics\u2014and they inspired us to reinvent our pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s nothing more fun than running marketing. The one downside is, you\u2019re the very first one to be blamed if sales don\u2019t go the right way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Remember those focus groups that compared the Domino\u2019s crust to packing material and its sauce to a condiment? The company had recorded them\u2014and it put them in ads.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spots went on to chronicle\u2014with humor and humility\u2014how the company had responded to the criticism by completely overhauling its recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coupled with a low-priced offer, the ad sent sales skyrocketing\u2014to the point, Weiner said, that \u201cwe were three days away from running out of pepperoni.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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