You may have seen the YouTube video: a pair of Domino's employees gleefully preparing food in a shockingly unhygienic manner. Much to the horror of the pizza chain, the video went viral a few weeks ago. Even several days after the story broke, the first page of a Google search for "Domino's" still returned at least three links related to the online debacle—one to the video itself, the others to a pair of stories by the New York Times and Fox News.
Though the workers who produced the video said it was a joke, and that the tainted food was never served, their claim did little to reassure the company or its customers. Domino's spokesperson Tim McIntyre told the New York Times, "Even people who've been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino's, and that's not fair."
The company quickly posted a YouTube response from Patrick Doyle, president of Domino's USA. "The two team members have been dismissed and there are felony warrants out for their arrest," he says. "The store has been shut down and sanitized from top to bottom. There is nothing more important or sacred to us than our customer's trust."
As the Domino's story demonstrates, your company's reputation can be as vulnerable as a mobile home in tornado alley. Your Marketing Inspiration is simple: When the alarm sounds, be sure you have a plan for immediate response.
More Inspiration:
CK: Everything You Want to Know, but Are Afraid to Ask
Ted Mininni: Putting the 'No' in Innovation
Len Kendall: Anything That Can Be Turned into a Commodity, Will Be
by Christina "CK" Kerley
Comments
by nopete Fri May 1, 2009
MarketingProfs should check the weather before sending out emails with titles such as this. I live in the Midwest and we've had severe weather this morning, including the threat of tornadoes. Sending an email entitled Tornado Warning without thinking through the possible implications displayed a lack of poor taste.