For most consumers, a burnt dinner is a disaster. For Domino’s, it’s a probability for an Emergency Pizza, the loyalty program perk that the chain launched in 2023. Intended as a strategy to boost post-pandemic momentum, the promotion brought 2 million people into the QSR brand’s loyalty program the primary time around and helped kick off three quarters of positive growth.
Emergency Pizza — which supplies Domino’s Rewards members a one-time free pizza after they make a single purchase — returned in 2024 with partnerships around gaming, beauty and streaming TV. In December, Domino’s dipped into the 30-million-strong community around fantasy football, giving fans who had all-pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs (out for the reason that middle of the season with an ACL injury) on their fantasy rosters $1 million value of free Emergency Pizzas.
“If you possibly can turn an injury … into something nice for fans, and switch lemons into lemonade, an Emergency Pizza could be the vehicle for that. It felt really special and unique, and Domino’s saw that instantly,” said Matt Talbot, co-founder and chief creative officer on the chain’s agency of record, WorkInProgress.
The latest iteration of the campaign, which launched on Dec. 16, will run through Jan. 6 on digital, social and TV, including in social spots that see Diggs holding a press conference from his couch.
Marketing Dive spoke with Talbot and Kate Trumbull, who in October was promoted from chief brand officer to executive vp and global CMO for Domino’s, in regards to the Emergency Pizza campaigns, the virtuous cycle of data-driven marketing and the corporate’s agenda for 2025.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: What was the pondering behind the fantasy football-driven campaign for Emergency Pizza?
MATT TALBOT: We knew that as soon as we were doing Emergency Pizza for a second time that we desired to make it larger than ever and extend it into different interest groups, beyond just the core use cases we showed the primary go-around around food emergencies.
We had a big collection of ideas that we were collaborating on and this one felt right really early on, due to how big fantasy has gotten, how big the NFL is, after all, but in addition [around] viewing occasions on linear and how we do something that’s got just a little little bit of teeth to it.
KATE TRUMBULL: We attempt to get across to different audiences. We had Amazon-Twitch’s The Glitch to achieve gamers, after which we went into the sweetness space with Olive & June. This partnership with Stefon Diggs was to achieve that [fantasy football] audience — and the numbers are crazy. It felt like the proper time far enough into the season to actually bring this together.
The campaign guarantees $1 million in free Emergency Pizzas. How do you justify that to the corporate and the franchisees?
TRUMBULL: Everything we do, we partner with our franchisees. Bringing our franchise board through it, they see the bigness of this message. We did it the primary time and it had strong leads to Q4 of 2023: positive same-store sales, plenty of earned media impressions and they felt it of their business. We got here to them and said, “There are these recent audiences we wish to achieve in really creative ways.” I believe that they saw the potential. Frankly, we’re in a live quarter, but we’ve been really blissful with our media that we’ve garnered the second time around with over 3 billion media impressions. We’ve gotten conversations going.
Domino’s made waves with a promotion around “Stranger Things” in 2022. What went right into a second collaboration with Netflix around “Squid Game?”
TRUMBULL: We knew with “Squid Game” there was a chance to take their biggest equity and people iconic games — the Dalgona cookie, or red-light-green-light — that get related to that property.
We partnered with [director] Ted Melfi, who did an incredible job bringing it to life, and I believe we added some unexpected moments with our Domino’s employees giving Emergency Pizza to the “Squid Game” players who needed them on the time. Matt and his team did such a tremendous job, since it’s a darker property.
TALBOT: The thing for us was, what’s the concept’s going to make this work, due to tone of the mental property: How does this fit together? But the incontrovertible fact that the Emergency Pizza can save the day keeps all of the darkness at bay and finally ends up bringing more humor, which is a component of the explanation the response has been so positive — since it’s unexpectedly comedic.
How does the loyalty data from Emergency Pizza fuel the brand’s other data-driven marketing?
TRUMBULL: It’s a virtuous cycle. Our strategy is named Hungry for MORE, and I proceed to feel like after we really give them more, they give us more. Our loyalty program is an ideal example and proof point. We launched our original program back in 2015, and other people needed to order six times to get something at no cost. It was too long. With the brand new program, you simply need to order twice, after which we took it from having to spend $10 to $5.
What we’ve seen is it’s really reached more recent consumers and lighter users, and as we do more innovation, especially within the product space, we’ve been in a position to incorporate our loyalty perks into those product launches. It brings more news and more value to consumers. It’s an always-on a part of our strategy now, which is exciting.
In 2024, value was top-of-mind for consumers across the restaurant space. How do you look to remain in that conversation?
TRUMBULL: Value is just not just what you pay, it’s what you get, and consumers want all of it, as they should. They want hot, delicious product. They want accuracy. They want quality. It definitely played a task in our calendar, and definitely played a task with motivating and getting our franchisees excited to actually deliver an important experience for consumers, however it’s a balancing act.
Kate, last 12 months, you became global CMO of Domino’s. What’s on your agenda for 2025?
TRUMBULL: I’m in search of how we take our Hungry for MORE strategy and what we’ve been in a position to do within the U.S. [global]. We’re in over 90 markets on the earth. How will we leverage the dimensions that we now have to proceed to make a difference in those markets, and to win on innovation, delicious food and renowned value? The global side of things is incredibly critical to me.
We’ve done plenty of smart things foundationally, but I actually am excited to amp up innovation. I believe that’s all the time the proper place to speculate, and not only innovation on the product side with exciting news but in addition tech innovation. Over 85% of our sales are on e-commerce, and that’s a spot that we now have all the time invested. You’re going to see more exciting innovation from us in that space, too.
Matt, the 12 months closed with major news within the Omnicom-IPG merger. How does that affect how you make your pitch as an indie shop?
TALBOT: I don’t think it could put us in a greater position so far as providing the things that the larger ones just have a tough time providing: intentionality, dedication of staff, institutional knowledge, culture, community.
Obviously, I feel for those who are going to be affected by this, and inevitably, there’s going to be some consolidation. I definitely don’t relish in that a part of it, but I feel like it should just proceed to shine a light-weight on the advantages of getting a small, independent shop of those who really care about their clients’ business and are just a little bit more focused on the clients at hand versus constant growth and the pressures that include being a vehicle for publicly traded entities to consolidate a bundle of things for holding corporations.
We don’t have that pressure, because we decided that we just want focused, regular growth and to never take our eye off the ball with our big clients and have one of the best people possible. Advertising was forced right into a box to offer consistency in order that it might be traded on the general public markets, and it’s not necessarily one of the best for the work or the people. Advertising just isn’t meant to operate that way.
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