Domino's Crisis 101

In response to the short blog post Crisis 101: Now Measured in Minutes on http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/, I found that quick responses from companies are crucial in the time of crisis. Because Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, Twitter, and Youtube can rapidly spread a message, companies now have a 24-hour window to perform damage control for their brand.

The blog mentions two companies: Amazon and Domino’s who had a bad publicity crisis and did not react in timely fashion. One of my friends actually told me about the Domino’s video this past Friday and showed me a clip of it. I had not heard or seen it before and was automatically intrigued by this social media nightmare and was wondering why I did not get wind of it sooner. I figured that perhaps I should start watching the news or check my online news more often.

I found another article http://adage.com/article?article_id=136086 that detailed the Domino’s incident a bit more. This past Monday April 13th, a disgusting Domino’s Youtube video was posted showing two employees sticking cheese up their nose, farting on some meat, and other unseemly things to a sandwich before supposedly delivering to an unwary customer. Domino’s found out about it but delayed reacting to it right away, in fear that it would make the offensive video seem worse. Finally on Wednesday, Domino’s posted a Youtube response thanking the community for alerting them of what was going on and helping them find the employees who had posted the video. The video also told its viewers that the store had been sanitized and that Domino’s would review their hiring process a bit better. Domino’s opened a Twitter account to combat customer questions about the incident. The original video was pulled off Youtube, but it had already received almost a million views. Critics state that Domino’s should have reacted sooner on Tuesday instead of waiting for Wednesday to put out a response. They should have at least let out a Tweet or message showing the public that they were aware of the situation and were handling it appropriately. According to the blog, users might have different opinions or comments on the company if they got some response from the company at least. However, the critics were proud that Domino’s later spoke to their demographics on Youtube, Twitter, Myspace, and more notably Facebook to alleviate the crisis.

I believe that this mishap will actually build customer loyalty especially as many people see how well Domino’s handled the situation in the days afterwards. Although the response could have been faster, I think users will be impressed at the social media presence that Domino’s has, especially to communicate to their customers as well as keep track of what people are saying about their brand. In the next few weeks, I hope that Domino’s really takes advantage of this publicity and build up their social media tools to boost up their sales and build a stronger customer experience. I think people will be checking Domino’s Facebook page to see what the company or other users have to say. Domino’s needs to capture these users now and make an interesting website so that users will want to check the site again.

All in all, I believe that Domino’s handled the situation fairly well despite the time lag. The comments on the blog seem to agree with the author that a quick response should be part of Crisis 101 training. I think in the future, incidences such as these will happen more often and will be handled similarly but more timely, especially as companies learn from Domino’s, Amazon, Motrin and all the other companies who have suffered from the backlash of social media. It is a fair learning lesson for all of us, particularly marketing folks who need to be aware of what people are saying or watching about their brand in real-time, and also how to use social media tools to market their companies in terms of building stronger community and communication with their customers.