Domino’s is an international pizza restaurant chain that is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Started in 1960, Domino’s has grown from humble roots to become one of the three largest pizza chains in the world and has restaurants in places as far as China and Japan. Domino’s brand identity starts with the company’s core values, which include: “Treat people as you’d like to be treated,” “Produce the best for less,” and “We are not ordinary, we are exceptional” (Domino’s, 2017). From these listed values, one can derive the fact that the international pizza restaurant strategically wishes to put employees and customers first and to provide those people with a product that surpasses its competition. Thus, Domino’s competitive priority is to produce high quality products while reducing production costs on a global scale. The global scale is actually a huge part of Domino’s brand identity. “Domino’s is thriving in emerging markets like Brazil and China because it is a relatively inexpensive luxury” (Lutz, 1). This is in part due to Domino’s Vertical Integrated Supply chain model (Aziz, 2016). This model means that Domino’s is in total control of their product, how it is produced, and how it is delivered to customers, all of which are instrumental in developing and maintaining a strong brand identity.
Domino’s used to be in the pizza-making business (Taylor, 2016). The pizza chain would throw together traditional ingredients and produce pizzas that some described as the “worst pizza I ever had” (Taylor, 2016). This was Domino’s old brand identity. The pizza restaurant chain’s brand identity was more or less a back pocket, fast-food option if Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and local pizza parlors were sold out, too busy, or too far. However, Domino’s implemented a number of strategic changes to reinvent its brand identity. First, Domino’s pivoted from the pizza-making business to the pizza-delivery business (Taylor, 2016). Domino’s Vertical Integrated Supply chain model is certainly indicative of this rebranding effort, but Domino’s also made more obvious rebranding moves. First, Domino’s changed its logo by dropping the word “Pizza” in exchange for the smaller bite that is “Domino’s.” This was a strategic move to establish that Domino’s is more than just pizza; the chain also provides customers with wing, salad, and dessert options, among other menu items. Domino’s also launched significant ad campaigns in its rebranding effort, including one that blatantly acknowledged customer complaints that Domino’s pizza tasted terrible. This was actually a major part of Domino’s rebranding effort. Domino’s not only publicly recognized customer complaints, but the company subsequently unveiled an entirely new pizza recipe. Finally, Domino’s augmented the impact of its brand new recipe with brand new, brightly colored pizza delivery boxes that integrated the company’s logo directly with its packaging (Nudd, 2016).
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Domino’s rebranding effort has definitely proven to be successful. In between 2014 and March of 2016 “Domino’s increased its market share from 9 percent to 12.3 percent” (Derousseau, 1). In fact, industry analyst Mark Kalinowski predicted in 2017 that Domino’s, which had shown and continues to show a significant amount of surge in the industry, would rise to be the “dominant player” in the market (Whitten, 2017). It is clear that Domino’s rebranding effort demonstrates a keen understanding of the marketplace as well as an understanding of its brand identity in that marketplace. Domino’s shifted from being a pizza-making business to a pizza-delivery business and that shift has reinvigorated the company. Through the branding acts of changing the company logo, releasing strong ad campaigns, recognizing company shortcomings and changing recipes, and developing new delivery boxes, Domino’s changed its brand identity from a small industry player into an industry leader on the global scale.
- Aziz, A. (2016, November 02). Does Domino’s supply chain services model provide a competitive advantage? How? Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/
- Derousseau, R. (2016). 4 Reasons Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) Keeps Delivering Growth. Retrieved from https://money.usnews.com/
- Domino’s. (2017). Domino’s Vision, Mission and Values. Retrieved from https://www.dominos.com.au/
- Nudd, T. (2016, April 14). Domino’s New Pizza Delivery Boxes in the U.K. Are Just Bloody Awesome. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/
- Taylor, B. (2016, November 28). How Domino’s Pizza Reinvented Itself. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/
- Whitten, S. (2017, May 17). Pizza Hut’s multi-decade reign in the pizza biz could come to an end in 2018. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com
