Domino's is adamantly proud of their new branding effort, in which they have brilliantly removed the word "Pizza" from their name. In an assumed attempt to bolster awareness for their brand, Domino's has announced a kind of scavenger hunt contest via hashtag. "Hello, user generated content!" is what I'm sure you all just thought gleefully, but sadly ... we'll have to file this one under #brandfail instead. Let's dissect the issue here.
Contest entry is simple enough: Track down any logo that contains "Domino's Pizza", take a picture of the offensive bastard, upload it to Instagram with #logoinformants and #sweeps. Selected winners receive free pizza for a year or a $10 Domino's gift card. Uh ... yummm!
So wait, why is this bad? Pizza is the best present anyone could ask for, right? Wrong! I mean right - yes, pizza is awesome. But if I know the dynamics of a retail business with both company-owned and franchise stores (and I do ... pretty well ... since I was most recently in-house at a major retailer of the same model), this is a huge dig at what should be valued franchisee partners. Minor brand guideline changes that are made into major deals, like this one, are a huge pain to these independent business owners that are running on some family-owned business budgets. They understand the value of brand alignment, but forcing their hand at buying a new god-knows-how-much-$$ store front sign at the measly whim of "We're more than pizza" is like a kick in the teeth to a major profit-generating branch of your enterprise. Now if that isn't bad enough, because, you know... they'll get the new sign in a few months - Domino's is now publicly shaming stores through a social media campaign aimed at "gotcha" photography, in which franchisees will be the mostly likely offenders.
After reading about this contest and calculating the probability of backlash, I ventured to see how Domino's was expressing their new found brand epiphany on their social channels. This is where my facepalm went from silly to surprisingly painful...
ALL of their major social channels don the name "Domino's Pizza". Oh why, Domino's - WHY hast thou forsaken thine brand promise on the very channel in which thou asketh for the head of any such traitor?
To add salt to this whoops wound, this irony seems to be the theme of all public #logoinformants posts at the time of this blog publishing. It's going to be an awkward morning for them.
What Did We Learn? Know the dynamics of your business. Ensure precision in internal review of all social campaigns, involving a steering committee of key stakeholders (such as operations, business development, franchise, merchants, etc.).
- If your brand is pushing strict expectations on a brand refresh, be sure you're representing said brand statement in all corporate channels. Social media has no room for excuses, since it is simple and quick to edit social media profiles.
- Sloppy campaigns can still achieve brand awareness. I'm blogging about Domino's right now! (But that's not always a good thing).
What are your thoughts on Domino's #logoinformants campaign? What steps can social media professionals take to avoid negativity in their hashtag promotions?
Originally posted on socbizzy.com