For everyone who hadn’t heard, here is the link to the story from a couple of weeks ago:
Domino’s Discovers Social Media
I did a lot of reading on this last week and there is really nothing that can be done to keep something like this happening to a company. Nothing! No added cameras or stiffer penalties, etc. What I believe CAN be done is an equally dramatic viral effort that would be the opposite.
What do I mean? Well, in physics and psychology class we studied Conservation of Momentum. If a pendulum swings in one direction it will eventually swing back in the opposite. This applies to every facet of natural and human lives.
To simplify, if two clowns decide to spit and blow their noses in sandwiches and it gets on youtube where it disgusts everyone and creates a “negative” view of Dominos restaurant and food, then force the pendulum to swing in the opposite direction. How? Damage control by firing the employees and releasing a statement about the quality of the food and standards in hiring/management and policy. Point to track record of cleanliness.
Then launch a counter viral campaign targeted at building up the name of the product/brand. That can be anything from announcing a new product, promotion, etc.
Spin the negative into positive. Release a statement like “It’s really such a shame that something like this had to happen on the eve of announcing our new product/promotion.”
Use the bad press as the foundation of launching your good press.
Be humorous. Make lite of what happened. Viral campaigns don’t always have to officially come directly from the targeted company.
Lastly,
no press is bad press. Yes, what happened was unfortunate and did cause something of a reputation problem, but look at how explosive that was…how much press they got out of it. How fresh in the minds is Dominos right now? How negative do you think the brand is right now? I don’t think it was damaging and if it were it was momentary. Their sales probably dipped but I bet over the course of the next couple of months their profits and sales will actually increase.
In fact, I’m not at all convinced this wasn’t actually a viral effort from Dominos itself.
Feedback is welcome.