The story of how 2 Dominos employees with a video camera and internet connection caused severe damage to the Domino’s brand last year is all too familiar to us in the food and hospitality industry. If you have not seen the video, here it is for your reference.
The tragedy here is that Domino’s did not actively monitor social media activities nor once they found out, respond to this prank immediately. By the third day, it was too late to put out this viral fire and its fate of becoming a “what-not-to-do” example was inevitable.
The real come back story is how Partick Doyle, President of Domino’s USA, responded to this incident with his sincere apology. His sincerity was measured by Mediacurves.com, the technology responsible for charting and overlaying “believability” curve on his video. As you will see from his video, people responded well to his pledge for stricter hiring practices and higher sanitization standards.
The process of regaining customer’s trust is a tough one, especially having gone through fiascos like Dominos, Burger King and KFC. Businesses in the consumer goods sector can’t afford not to spend resources to monitor their mentions in social media as it evolves to become an influential and viral channel.
