THE PROFITABLE “PUT DOWN”: DOMINO’S REVISITED

Back in January, I wrote a blog about the unique approach that Domino’s Pizza took when it aggressively relaunched its new formulation.

What I found extraordinary about the whole marketing campaign was its focus on how awful Domino’s old recipe was, describing the “classic” Domino’s pie as “mass produced, boring, bland,” with a taste like “cardboard” … worse even than microwave pizza.

“Suggesting that you’ve been cheating your most loyal customers for the past 50 years by selling them a second-rate product is just not the strongest platform for future growth,” I wrote at the time. “It’s a risky approach — and not one I’d recommend to a client — but it just might work. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Well, early returns suggest that Domino’s CEO, J. Patrick Doyle, does indeed know his product — and his market.

According to a recent article in USA TODAY Domino’s more than doubled its fourth-quarter profit — to $23.6 million, or 41 cents a share — as curious customers tried out its new recipe.

It was a risky move, but it seems to have resonated well with the general public for the time being. I’ll be very interested to see if they can sustain this level of profitability over the next few quarters when the campaign has faded. I must confess that I remain skeptical.


Technorati Tags: Domino’s Pizza, marketing, J. Patrick Doyle,USA TODAY, communications, public relations, Makovsky