Transparency Got Me

I love it. I can't lie. I love the new Domino's advertising campaign and I love the new crust and I love free pizza. Wait, I haven't gotten any free pizza, but I did want to mention that I love it.

However, my blatant appeals for free pizza notwithstanding, my point today is something else entirely. This very morning, at Septemeber 10, 7:30 real-American time, I saw a refreshing commercial. I may be naive. I may have just bought into another slick ad campaign. I may be an idiot. Whatever I might be, I like what I saw.

They've had this campaign going for a while in which they are urging customers to take a picture of their pizzas when delivered. The concept is that they don't need to set up picture ops by spraying their pizzas, or nailing them to a board or whatever tricks advertising people use. They say the product is good enough to stand AND it's good enough that anyone could photograph it at any time and it's still good. Not all pizzas are being delivered in tip-top shape, so you can imagine that some pictures are coming in of some jacked-up pizzas.

I remember the "Avoid the Noid" campaign that I thought was so cheesy that I could care less if there pizzas were. That was the 80s and Dominos pizza crust tasted like cardboard to me, and had about the same texture. However, the toppings were good and the Noid was fun enough, in a weird way, to give ol' DP a run. They aren't that way anymore.

Apparently they realized they needed change. They've made it. They made a commitment to improve their pizza and I think they've done a good job of doing that, and, in so doing, have changed their whole image. It's worked on me; no Papa's except when in conjunction with the Mama's.

This leads me to the part I really like. The CEO, or some high ranking official, of Domino's displayed a picture a kid sent in of a recent pizza order. The pizza was stuck to the inside top of the box. The executive seemed genuinely upset; he seemed genuine when he said he would not abide by poor quality such as that. He promised to make sure Domino's remained vigilant until all needed changes were realized to make Domino's good again.

They stepped up. Domino's seems transparent. I'm buying it. Matter of fact, I really did buy Domino's for lunch. It was good too!

If it's fake, they got me. I'm fooled. My tastebuds are fooled. My senses are fooled. IF that's what they are doing, they got me.

There are tons of lessons here, but big one sticks out to me: BE TRANSPARENT. Where there are flaws, deal with them. Where there are weaknesses, shore them up. Where there is failure, admit it. No excuses. No smoke. No mirrors. Domino's said they needed a better crust. They concocted one. They said their pizzas would stand on their own, without the aid of fancy photography. They failed. They confessed. They renewed the commitment and continued the campaign.

My goodness. What would happen if we ran our lives like this? Transparent. Confessional. Purposeful. Intentional. Correcting. Genuine.

Maybe Domino's could teach us a few things about our witnessing campaign.