Creative Impressions Management

It was Thanksgiving; there was no one in the store placing orders. The manager was in the back, reading the paper when the two Domino’s employees decided to shoot a video. He was making a sandwich as she narrated. As she spoke he stuck a piece of cheese up his nose then placed it on the sandwich. He then took a piece of pepperoni and placed it behind his but and shot air into it, he then carefully placed it on the sandwich. And there you have it. She decided to upload the video onto YouTube. The rest is history the video quickly went viral.  Thanks to Domino’s aggressive search programs, the video was discovered the very next day. What would they do now, should they call a press conference? According to Tim McIntyre the Vice President of Communications for Domino’s Pizza that would only call more attention to the damage that had already been done to them.

 Not everyone had seen the YouTube video. Tim McIntyre decided to call the CEO and one camera man. Together they shot a video and uploaded onto YouTube. The message was simple and given in a very informal manner by the CEO, An apology was given and an explanation, “This is not something Domino’s did; this was something that was done to Domino’s”. The tags used by the soon to be x-employees, on the video that was originally intended to be a practical joke were the same tags used by, so that anyone in search of that video, would also find Domino’s response to it. The message was repeated over and over to the press. The press was not granted any air time or a press release just a simple statement over the phone. The two were not hard to find because they used their real names. There deeds were frowned upon by the whole town and they faced criminal charges for tainting food.

The tactics used were very effective in the grand scale of things, because statistics showed that at least three times more people viewed the Domino’s video, than they did practical joke. And probably ten times more people view Charlie Sheen’s video than they did the Domino’s video. In addition those who did not know about the practical joke did not need to be subjected to those graphic images. Domino’s stores continued to be opened and increases in sales were documented. The Response by Tim McIntyre was a first, It was creative, and it was effective. I really enjoyed hearing Tim McIntyre speak. He is a very down to earth type of person. His points to us:

•  Be how you want to be perceived 
• Don’t do stupid stuff 
• Engage, don’t sell (Domino’s doesn’t sell any product online) and don’t retail on Facebook 
• Monitor everything, be vigilant. Respond honestly, identify yourself 
• Policies help, if you follow through and hold people accountable (i.e., no unauthorized video or photography allowed on the premises, or while in uniform.) 
• Your response says more about your reputation as much as the incident itself 
• Don’t Panic 
• Assess the situation as quickly as possible • Know your audience 
• Don’t hide, people will fill in the gaps 
• Be forthcoming, apologize, and say you are sorry take responsibility. (Sorry is not an admission of guilt, it means something happened and you are sorry that it did) 
• Focus on your Core Issues (This was not something Domino’s did, it was something that was done to Domino’s) 
• Keep it simple 
• Do it fast 
• Every Global or National crises has a local origin - Prevent them, fix them, and identify all things that can go wrong • Develop a culture of caring 
• Make every hire count 

Notes taken from: PRSSA 14th Annual Student Development Conference | “Inspire Your Passion” | Eastern Michigan University | December 2, 2011