Dominos Responds to Brand Crisis Through Social Media
Dominos Pizza employees posted a YouTube video of themselves at work at a Conover, N.C. Dominos. One films the other intentionally sneezing on a sandwich, putting the cheese in their nose and doing other unseemly things to the food before delivering it presumably in :30 or less.
According to the New York Times,
“By Wednesday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than a million times on YouTube. References to it were in five of the 12 results on the first page of Google search for “Dominos,” and discussions about Domino’s had spread throughout Twitter.”
(Update: the original video has been removed from YouTube)
This isn’t a crisis like a natural disaster or a shooting (the latter I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as we approach the 10 year anniversary
of the Columbine shootings). This is, however, a brand crisis.
Companies need to be constantly monitoring their brands online such that they can address crises such as this one head on and as it’s happening. Motrin is an example of how social media can go wrong.
Dominoes, however, responded quickly and appropriately. The company very quickly had its own video on YouTube — a very good response to the original video. This is a lesson in crisis management — especially online crisis management. One lesson few large companies understand with crises online or spreading through social media is NOT to issue a press release. Instead speak directly to people on the medium where the crisis is happening. For Dominos, that was YouTube.
The original video was removed from YouTube, but duplicates have since been re-added.
From the NYT:
By Wednesday afternoon, Domino’s had created a Twitter account, @dpzinfo, to address the comments, and it had presented its chief executive in a video on YouTube by evening.
Dominos did several things very well and a few things not so well.
What Dominos did well:
1. Dominos responded swiftly, appropriately, on the media where the crisis was happening (I’m dealing with the social media crisis here and am not addressing what Dominos did or didn’t do with customers of the store where the video originated)
2. The president of Dominos USA was the spokesperson. Always address communications with the right spokesperson. Of course, that’s not always the CEO nor should it be. Dominos recognized the significance of the situation and used the right spokesperson.
3. The Dominos uses conversational language and is noticeably frustrated with the individuals that did this. He was “sickened.” His level of outrage over what they’ve done is appropriate. His delivery is familiar, not stuffy. He’s not in a suit and not in a board room setting.
4. Instead of being frustrated that the initial video was viewed millions of times, he thanks the social media community for bringing it to his attention.
5. Over address the problem: He communicates that Dominos shut down the store and is cleaning it “from top to botom.” He goes on to share that Dominos is reviewing hiring practices ”across the board.” He hammers their focus on cleanliness and high quality food. He also shares that Federal felony warrants are out for the arrest of the workers who have already been fired.
6. He does well what many companies in crisis forget. He reiterates what Dominos is in business to do.
7. He thanks viewers of the video for “sticking with us.” Also good, he stuck with addressing the crisis at hand and how Dominos is working to correct it. He did not start offering.
What could have been better:
1. The Dominos president is clearly reading from a prompter or cue cards. Preparing remarks and sticking to the script is a safe way to go, but it doesn’t feel as heartfelt and the outrage can fall flat when read.
2. Dominos set up a Twitter account to interact with people discussing the YouTube video there. In a crisis is not the time to be creating relationships. Brands should be building those relationships all the time so than when and if a crisis occurs, the brand can quickly address from a position of trust.
Other things to consider:
- In a crisis, there are people in the organization that will want to keep to business as usual as if nothing has happened. It is important that top leadership clear their calendar if necessary to address the crisis. It is the job of the PR professional to insist that leadership do whatever is necessary to address the crisis immediately and credibly.
- Do all that you can to view the crisis from the outside. The PR professional must have a sense of how people are reacting. Be a good listener.
- Know your key messages and stick to them.
- Identify your target audiences and stick to them.
- Better to flood your audiences with information than to starve them of it. Send out information as you get it and use all available communication vehicles. People will look to you for the facts, so provide them.
- Use the media as a pipeline initially, then broaden your communication tools and focus your messages.
- Take control of the situation it is okay to say, “No.”
- Do not let media dominate your team’s time and attention.
Robert Scoble led a conversation about Dominos’ response on FriendFeed.
