Go into any marketing or advertising department in American and ask employees there to clearly outline their weaknesses. They will do one of three things in response:
1. Run every statement by their bosses, leaving you with a sanitized, vaguely upbeat version of their weaknesses.
2. Mumble unintelligibly, leaving you to catch the occasional “weak market share” and “customers hate us.”
3. Flee in terror.
Marketers and advertisers by their very nature do not deliver bad news. That’s a quick way to end up in the unemployment line surrounded by other marketers who had to deliver the unfortunate news to the CEO that their products suck. Given that reality, it’s little surprise that you won’t hear marketers willing to outline the negative, even at gunpoint.
Yet Domino’s, the iconic pizza franchise, built an entire campaign around telling the ugly truth. That seemingly suicidal move had a surprising outcome: Domino’s is seeing its best growth in a decade.
Confronting The Truth
It all began in late 2009, when the company famous for its quick delivery at last confronted the fact that their pizza was…well, not very good. As a college student I prized Domino’s for its ability to get to my door within a half hour and taste enough like pizza to satisfy me as I banged out another 15 page paper on the Fourth Crusade. If I wanted something that tasted excellent, there were better options, and Domino’s and its customers had been aware of that for decade.
That in mind, Domino’s set about crafting a marketing and advertising campaign that would promote a new-look, new-taste pizza that finally reacted to such crushing appraisals as “cardboard.” They also set about revamping their chicken offerings, and they did it all backed by the admission that their food just wasn’t very good.
Keeping in mind the aversion to admitting that anything is wrong among marketers and advertisers, this was remarkable:
Marketing 101 does not call for self-flagellation. “I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have a knot in my stomach the day that advertising launched,” says Domino’s CEO Patrick Doyle.
It also worked. Customers were given appreciable changes by a contrite company that sought to make amends to its customers, or at least appear to. Due in large part to the campaign, the company reported Thursday that its net income rose 10.6 percent in the first quarter, the largest increase in recent memory.
I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this approach isn’t going to work for every company. Not everyone can afford to admit that their offerings are less than stellar, and the idea of such frank honesty in advertising isn’t exactly a joy and delight to every company. But Domino’s is proof positive that engaging customers with honesty and reacting to their feedback can pay huge dividends. What a novel concept, eh?
So while you’re out questing for working capital or just doing business, strongly consider the truth. If the truth is unpleasant, it gives you incentive to change and lets your customers know you’re listening. If it’s good, you want to be sharing it anyways.
What are your thoughts on honesty in marketing? Please share them in the comments!
Photo credit to ilco at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/952530
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