CINCINNATI - "Bailout" was the magic word as Domino's had to give away thousands of free pizzas because someone stumbled on an online promotion the company scrapped.
Domino's Pizza Inc. spokesman Tim McIntyre said Wednesday that the company prepared an Internet coupon for an ad campaign that was considered in December but not approved.
He says someone apparently typed "bailout" into a Domino's promo code window and found it was good for a free medium pizza.
Word about the code spread quickly Monday night on the Web and 11,000 free pizzas were delivered before it was deactivated Tuesday morning.
Cincinnati-area franchise owner John Glass says his 14 stores gave away more than 600 pies, but that Domino's promised to reimburse him.
So, Domino's created an online advertising promo for an internet coupon, but then decided to scrap it. However, Domino's never deactivated the online promo. Someone found out that if you typed in the word "bailout" in the promo code window, Domino's will bail you out with a free medium pizza. And it only cost Domino's 11,000 pizzas here. What can I say, but Domino's made a colossal advertising screw-up in which 11,000 Americans became happy pizza eaters. With a medium, hand-tossed, pepperoni pizza priced at around $11.35, it only cost Domino's $124,850 for this pizza bailout.
This is perfect example of what branding expert John Tantillo calls "adpublitzing"--an ad becomes an issue and ends up being written about in the media, increasing exposure exponentially. Tantillo pointed out on his marketing blog that although it probably wasn't an interest of planned guerilla marketing, it would have been a pretty brilliant one.
ReplyDeleteWhatever Domino's will have to shell out to reimburse the franchises will likely be far less than they would have spent for a campaign to promote their online ordering system. (I had no idea you could order Domino's online...). And the particular franchises hit will probably see more business in the future, too--without having had to spend (okay, only loan) any of their own money on marketing or other local discounts/offers. Tantillo's full post.