"In about five minutes these will be sent out and somebody will be eating these -- yes, eating these," one employee says in the video. "And little do they know that the cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami. Now that's how we roll at Domino's."
As one spokesperson for Domino's said, "Any idiot with a webcam and an internet connection can attempt to undo all that's right about the brand."
Dominos has 125,000 employees in 60 countries and a loyal following, but two immature employees and one three-minute video did arguably irreversible damage to the brand. It was only one video, but how long do you think the association between Domino's and idiot employees doing nasty things to food can last? We're betting the stigma will be around for a long time.
So the lesson is this -- you may not think social media is the most productive venue for your company's brand, but it can't be ignored. Domino's only got around to creating a Twitter account the day after this crisis broke -- and the company's public statements about it made it obvious that it had never occurred to them to do so before. If Domino's had a handle on what was going on in the social media world, they would have been monitoring YouTube for Domino's-related videos and been able to get the video removed and the employees fired before it spread virally.
Catherine Taylor chastises Domino's for dropping the ball in this MediaPost article.
-Adrianne (@msfener)
